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AN OLD FAMILY

The Setons of Scotland and America

MONSIGNOR SETON

(MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY)

NEW YORK
BRENTANO'S

1899

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NOV. 2 3, 1902.

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TO
A DEAR AND HONORED KINSMAN

Sir BRUCE-MAXWELL SETON of Abercorn, Baronet

THIS RECORD OF SCOTTISH ANCESTORS AND
AMERICAN COUSINS

IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED

BY THE AUTHOR

Preface.

The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things.

— Shirley.

Gibbon says in his Autobiography: "A lively desire of
knowing and recording our ancestors so generally prevails that
it must depend on the influence of some common principle
in the minds of men"; and I am strongly persuaded that a
long line of distinguished and patriotic forefathers usually
engenders a poiseful self-respect which is neither pride nor
arrogance, nor a bit of medievalism, nor a superstition of
dead ages. It is founded on the words of Scripture: Take
care of a good name ; for this shall continue with thee more
than a thousand treasures precious and great (Ecclesiasticus
xli. 15).

There is no civilized people, whether living under republi-
can or monarchical institutions, but has some kind of aristoc-
racy. It may take the form of birth, of intellect, or of wealth ;
but it is there. Of these manifestations of inequality among
men, the noblest is that of Mind, the most romantic that of
Blood, the meanest that of Money. Therefore, while a man
may have a decent regard for his lineage, he should avoid what-
ever implies a contempt for others not so well born. " Who
were thine ancestors ? " was put by Dante into the mouth of
a reprobate — Farinata degli Ubcrti — lifting his haughty and
tranquil brow from a couch of everlasting fire:

" E'en as if Hell he had in great despite."

vi PREFACE.

It is a little embarrassing to write about Family in America.
The insolence of wealth, the crushing ostentation, the impu-
dent assumption of crests and coats-of-arms, ought, perhaps,
to be left unnoticed, because, as Selden says in his Table Talk,
u Honesty sometimes keeps a man from growing rich and
civility from being witty." It now seems incongruous and
out of harmony with the right ideas for an old family to
have Money, for Money is the chief distinction in our sordid
age; although to a reflective and imaginative mind there is
nothing grand in a House founded on gold, whose heirlooms are
shares and bonds and city lots — a House without traditions
of self-sacrifice and chivalry to hand down to later generations.

The early emigration to this country was not drawn to any
considerable extent from the ignorant and poorer part of the
population; but was largely composed of those who were not
merely of an adventurous disposition and energetic character,
but were also possessed of some pecuniary means and some
advantages of education. Yet few of the Colonial families
were scions of old stock. Recently, however, claims are ad-
vanced in every direction, and Americans who aspire to Society,
at home or abroad — earlier, perhaps, abroad than at home —
pretend to be connected with British families. on similarity of
name or other flimsy foundation in a manner that makes them
ridiculous — to the Sphinx from whom they would learn the
secret of their transmarine descent. Yet any reasonable mem-
ber of the Forty Families in America whose aristocratic origin
is " well ratified by law and heraldry' will have the good
sense to say with the wise and eloquent Ulysses, when resting
his claim to leadership on personal merits and not on the
divinity of his ancestors :

Nam genus, et proavos, et quae non fecimus ipsi,
Vix ea nostra voco.

— Metamorphoses, XIII. , 140.

With us every honest man can become his own ancestor.

PREFACE. vii

The following extract from an article by the late General
E. P. Scammon on u The South Before, During, and After
the War," which appeared in the Catholic World for March,
1892, is quoted becausejt speaks the truth about a matter on
which there has been a certain confusion of ideas: "That
there was little difference of social rank or condition between
the colonists of North and South is proved beyond question
by colonial records. There is no escape from their evidence;
and they tell us not only who but what the colonists were.
Generally they were people who sought to improve their
worldly fortunes ; they were neither the rich nor the power-
ful. The more numerous exceptions to this rule would nat-
urally be expected, where, in fact, they were, among those
who came to the New World to secure that religious liberty
for themselves which was denied them in the Old. They
were notably among the Puritans of New England, the Friends,
or Quakers, of Pennsylvania, and the Catholics of Maryland.
Doubtless there were many others — adventurous younger sons
with little fortune or prospect of preferment at home, and
some whom adversity had so reduced in fortune that they
were unable to maintain their accustomed stations in the Old
World, but yet were left with what was comparative wealth
for a new countrv where poverty was the rule. To this class
some of the leading colonists of Maryland, Virginia, Carolina,
and Georgia belonged. But their numbers were relatively
small. The pretence of gentle birth, as a characteristic dif-
ference between colonists of different States, is alike silly and
unfounded. There were Washingtons, Fairfaxes, Masons,
Lees, and Johnstones in the array of old names in Virginia;
Tudors, Vaughans, Waldrons, Wentworths, and Dudleys in
New England ; as later there were Van Cortlandts, Van Rens-
selaers, Livingstons, and Setons in New York, and in these
and other colonies a list of less familiar names which might
challenge their claims to precedence."

viii PREFACE.

It is more than forty years since I began to study the his-
tory of my family and to gather notes on every subject con-
cerning it — since I commenced to talk to venerable men about
it and to take from their lips the lore of earlier times : Re-
fnember the days of old ; think upon every generation ; ask thy
father, and he will declare to thee ; thy elders, and they will tell
thee (Deut. xxxii. 7).

Some of my friends and acquaintances may feel surprised
that I should pay attention to a subject of no general or public
interest, and which seems especially reprehensible in view of
the Apostle's admonition to Timothy and Titus to " avoid
foolish questions " and u endless genealogies." In extenua-
tion, I will say that I have neglected no ecclesiastical duty in
compiling the records of my family, to which I have devoted
only "those interstitial vacancies" that may intervene even
in the most crowded variety of occupation, and that they have
little in common with the tables of descent such as the Jews
paraded, giving rise to trivial disputes and unreasonable ex-
pectations reproved by St. Paul. Not alone have Clerics, in
the past, been often the only preservers of their family his-
tory, but every family of mediaeval antiquity must go to mo-
nastic chronicles and religious charters for the earlier links of
its pedigree. To mention only Scotchmen : Father Aloysius
Leslie, S.J., wrote the history of the Leslies, published in a
large and sumptuous folio at Gratz in 1692, with the title
Laurus Lesliana Explicata ; and about the same time Father
Hay gave out his Genealogie of the Mays of Tweeddale. I
might also add that my learned correspondent the late Henry
Foley, S.J., has collected in his Records of the English Prov-
ince an immense amount of genealogical information about
old families in Great Britain.

Acknowledgments.

I am indebted for assistance to the following gentlemen, to
whom I return thanks if living, and of whom I am mindful
if dead: Sir William Fraser, the Peerage Lawyer; Sir John
Hope of Pinkie, Bart. ; Edward Stillingfleet Caylev, Esq., of
Wydale; Reginald Stuart Poole, Esq., of the British Museum;
Rev. Dr. Struthers, Minister of Prestonpans ; Colonel the
Hon. Robert Boyle, brother to the Earl of Glasgow; Mark
Seton Synnot, Esq., of Ballymoyer; William Dunlop, Esq., of
Edinburgh; Charles Olney, Esq., of the Bank of New York;
ex-Governor Francis Philip Fleming, of Florida; Henry Vin-
ing Ogden, Esq. ; Bergwyne Maitland, Esq. ; William Seton
Gordon, Esq. ; Henry Ogden, Esq.

Bibliography.

I. The History of the House of Seytoun to the Year MDLIX.
By Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, Knight, with
the Continuation, by Alexander Viscount Kingston, to
MDCLXXXVII. Printed at Glasgow, MDCCCXXIX.

The author belonged to an old Scotch family celebrated in
the political history of their country, and it has been said of
him that " in the literary world he was known by his history
of the family of Seton, and Poems on several subjects." His
mother's father was Lord Seton; and he piqued himself on
being " a daughter's son of the said house," whose history
and chronicle he wrote at the personal request of his cousin
George, Lord Seton. Maitland was the first in that long
list of family historians who have done so much to illustrate
the antiquity and importance of the great houses of Scotland.
This edition was privately printed for the members of the
Maitland Club, for whom it was edited by Charles Kirkpat-
rick Sharpe, the celebrated antiquary. A lady of high rank
— descended, as he also was, from the Setons — writing to him,
February 18, 1821, before he had undertaken to edit Mait-
land's History, says: " It has occurred to me that if . . .
you were to publish their memoirs with notes, and with such
prints, the book would sell well, and might be made a curi-
ous one as to Scotch domestic history and anecdotes relating
to remarkable persons"; and she offers to make sketches for
him. I have also another edition of the same work, with
some differences and additions, printed at Edinburgh in 1830.
These copies were given to my father by kinsmen when he

xii BIBLIOGRAPHY.

visited Scotland in 1855, being the first of our branch of the
family to return there in over a century.

II. A History of the Family of Seton during Eight Centuries.
Bv George Seton, Advocate, M.A. Oxon., etc. Two
vols. Edinburgh, 1896.

The author of this copious record of the family is an old
friend, the representative of the Cariston branch. It is a very
large and profusely illustrated work of over one thousand
pages. It has been a labor of love and of profound research ;
but as one who is honorably mentioned therein, I will say
(without malice) that it contains some things that are impor-
tant, many things that are useful, and everything that is super-
fluous.

III. Seton of Parbroath in Scotland and America. Printed
for private circulation. i2mo, pp. 28, 1890.

A little monograph rather hastily prepared. More time and
study have enabled me to modify some of my views and cor-
rect some of my statements.

IV. The Olivestob Hamiltons. By Rev. Arthur Wentworth
Hamilton Eaton, B.A., New York. Privately printed,

1893.

A very interesting and well-written account of one branch
of a princely family connected with the Setons.

V. Chart of the Descendants of John and Elizabeth Seton.

It is carefully compiled by a member of the family and en-
riched with a large number of notes.

VI. Record of the Bavley Family in America. Bv Guy
Carleton Bayley, M.D., Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

VII. Descendants of John Ogden. 1640. By Henry
Ogden, Esq., of New York.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. xiii

VIII. Descendants of Martinus Hoffman. B. 1640. D.
1 67 1. With Notes. By Lindley Murray Hoffman,
Esq., of New York.

IX. Some Account of the Family of Prime of Rowley, Mass.,
with Notes on the Families of Platts and Jewett. By
Temple Prime. Second edition (illustrated), New York,

1897.

X. Descent of Comfort Sands and of his Children, with Notes
on the Families of Ray, Thomas, Guthrie, Alcock, Pal-
grave, Cornell, Dodge, Hunt, and Jessup. By Temple
Prime. Second edition, New York, 1897.

The author of these interesting, carefully compiled, and
exquisitely printed family histories, Temple Prime, Esq., of
Huntington, L. I., is my cousin, and a great-grandson, mater-
nally, of Sir John Temple, Bart. He is a member of several
learned societies, and an authority on genealogy, European
and American. He has written a number of other works on
his family connections with a modesty rare in one so well
descended.

XI. The Green Book.

It is so called from the color of its binding, and contains
Notes, Recollections, and Memoranda of the Seton Family,
particularly in America. The earliest entry is 1797. Man-
uscript in my possession.

XII. The Brown Book.

Same reason as above ; contains Notes and Memoranda
made bv me while visiting Scotland in 1855, 1861, 1889,
and 1896. Manuscript in my possession.

Table of Contents.

PAGE

Preface ........... v

Acknowledgments ix

Bibliography xi

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.
The Norman Aristocracy ........ I

CHAPTER II.

Picot — Picot Avenel — Picot Avenel de Say — The Avenels — The

Avenels in Scotland . . • . . . . . . 5

CHAPTER III.

The Says — Foundation Chart of St. Martin — At Conquest of Eng-
land ............ 10

CHAPTER IV.

The Says — The Says in England — And again in Normandy — The

Say Co-Heiresses — Their Descendants ..... 14

CHAPTER I.

Say-tons — 1107-1124 — Saher de Say — First Appearance of de Say

in Scotland .......... 19

CHAPTER II.

1 100-1380 — Origin of the name Saher de Say — Saint Walthen or
Waltheof — William the Lion Grants Charter to Philip de Setoune
— First Mention of Coal in Scotland — Origin and History of Co-
myn Family — The Perciesof Topcliff — Sir Christopher Seton(2),
Friend and Companion of Wallace — Sir Christopher Seton (3),

xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Associate of Bruce — Battle of Methven — Capture and Execu-
tion of Sir Christopher — Loch Doon Castle — Origin of " Chrys-
tell's Mount" — Seton Estates in England Confiscated — Battle
of Bannockburn — Sir Alexander Seton (2) Accompanies Bruce
to Ireland — Tranent Granted to the Setons — Edward Baliol's
Usurpation — Defence of Berwick by Sir Alexander Seton (3) —
The Cheyne Eamily — Margaret, Heiress of Seton ... 22

CHAPTER III.

1383-1585 — Froissart's Mention of the Setons — Battle of Otterburn
— Sir John Assueton's Gallant Feat of Arms — Froissart at
Seton Castle — Sir William Seton, "the Premier Baron of Scot-
land"— Origin of the Gordons — John, Second Lord Seton,
Taken Prisoner at Homildon Hill — William, ''Master" of
Seton, Accompanies the Scots Guards to France, Takes Part in
the Battle of Bauge, and is Killed at Verneuil — " The Mass of
Verneuil " — Setons in the Scotch Auxiliaries of France — Setons
Allied to the Douglasses — George, Fourth Lord Seton, " Vocatus
Necromanticus " — The Collegiate Church of Seton — Poem on
"The Ruins of Seton Chapel" — George, Fourth Lord Seton,
Captured by Dunkirkers — Defeat of His Enemies — Origin of the
Campbell Family — Origin of the Hepburns — Battle of Flodden
— The Setons Benefactors of the Convent of St. Catharine of
Siena in Edinburgh — The Seton Cairn at Edinburgh — The Ruins
of Niddry Castle — Seton Castle Burned by the English — The
Setons of Cariston — Origin of the Hamiltons — George, Seventh
Lord Seton, Brings the First Coach to Scotland — Mary, Queen
of Scots, at Seton — Description of Seton House — The New Seton
Castle — Architectural Monuments of the Setons — Loyalty of the
Setons to Mary, Queen of Scots — Battle of Carberry Hill — Lord
Seton's Rescue of Mary, Queen of Scots, from Loch Leven Castle
— Battle of Langside — Exile of Lord Seton — Agent of the Im-
prisoned Queen — His Letter to Pope Gregory XIII. — His Death
— His Epitaph in Seton Church ...... 46

CHAPTER IV.

1548-1615 — The " Four Maries" — Sketch of Mary Seton, Daugh-
ter of the Sixth Lord Seton — Mary Seton's Watch ... 97

CHAPTER V.

1 585-1 716 — Robert Seton, First Earl of Winton, Persecuted by the
Presbyterians — Origin of the P'arls of Eglinton — Connection of
the Setons with the Earldoms of Eglinton, Perth, and Both well '

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xvii

— Charles Stewart, son of Lady Isabel Seton, " Trooper in the
Civil Wars" — Union of Scotland and England — The Roundle at
Seton — Winton House, Haddingtonshire — Lord Winton a Roy-
alist in the Civil War — Taken Prisoner at Philiphaugh — Seton
Family Injured by the Civil Wars — Origin of the Hay Family
and its Connection with the Setons — Lord Traquair, Husband of
Lady Ann Seton, Persecuted by the Covenanters — The Fourth
Earl of Winton at the Battle of Pothwell Bridge — The Last Earl
of Winton Takes Part in the " Rising " of 1715 — Captured at
Preston, Condemned to Death, but Escapes to France — End of
the Wintons — The Name of Seton Disappears from the Peer-
age ............. 100

CHAPTER VI.

1555-1694 — Alexander Seton, First Earl of Dunfermline — Queen
Mary Grants Him the Priory of Pluscardine — The Last Catholic
Lord Chancellor of Scotland — Letter of Father James Seton,
S.J., to the General of the Jesuits — The Earl of Dunfermline's
Love of Heraldry and Poetry — Pinkie House, Mid-Lothian —
Death and Character of Chancellor Seton — The Second Earl of
Dunfermline, Lord Privy Seal — End of the Dunfermlines . 123

CHAPTER VII.

1621-1726 — Alexander Seton's Devotion to Charles II., Who Makes
Him Viscount Kingston — Defends Tantallon Castle against
Cromwell and Takes Part in the Battle of Worcester — In Battles
of Pentland Hills and Bothwell Brig — The Last Viscount Kings-
ton Attainted for Taking Part in the "Rising" of 1715 — His
Estates are Forfeited and He Flees to the Continent — The Hays
of Dunse Castle Representatives of the Kingston Family . 137

CHAPTER VIII.

1639-1769 — The Setons of Garleton — Dedication of An Answer to
Monsieur De Rodoris Funeral of the A/ass to the First Garleton
— The Second Garleton Connected with the Ancient Family of
Wauchope — The Last Garleton ...... 142

CHAPTER IX.
1641-1671 — Seton of Windygoul ....... 148

CHAPTER X.
1 601 — The Setons of Olivestob ....... 149

xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I'AGE

CHAPTER XI.
1718 — The Setons of St. Germains ....... 151

CHAPTER XII.

I553_I588 — The Setons of Barnes — John, Son of the Seventh Lord
Seton, Bred at the Court of Spain, and Employed in Various
High Offices in Scotland — Sir John Seton (2) Receives Grant of
Land in Ireland, and Marries into the Ancient Family of O'Fer-
rall— Last Seton of Barnes Takes Part in the " Rising" of 1715
— James Seton (1), Governor of St. Vincent (West Indies), Rep-
resentative of the Barnes Family ...... 153

CHAPTER XIII.

1562-1635 — The Setons of Kylesmure — A Son of Sir William Seton,
First Baronet, in Hepburn's Famous Scotch Regiment in France
— Sir William Seton (2) Appointed Chief Postmaster by Charles I. 158

CHAPTER XIV.
The Setons of Meldrum ......... 160

CHAPTER XV.

The Setons of Touch — Origin of the Erskines — Saint Ninian — Sir
William Cranston of that Ilk — Setons of Touch Ancestors of Sir
Alan-Henry Seton-Stuart of Allanton and Touch . . . 161

CHAPTER XVI.

The Setons of Abercorn — The Maule Family — Charles I. Institutes
the Hereditary Order of Baronets in Scotland — Sir Walter Seton
Created Baronet of Nova Scotia — Sir Henry Seton Serves in the
French and Indian War and Receives a Grant of Land in New
York — Sir Alexander Seton Connected with the East India Com-
pany— Sir Henry-John Seton, Captain in the Peninsular War and
Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria — Sir Bruce-Maxwell Seton
— The Setons of Pitmedden — The Setons of Mounie — The Prot-
estant Cemetery at Leghorn — Alexander Seton, Lieutenant-Colo-
nel of the Seventy-fourth Highlanders, Drowned in the Wreck
of H. M. S. Birkenhead — The Setons of Cariston — The Setons
of Parbroath — The Ramsays — The Ancient Family of Vieux-
Pont — Origin of the Pitcairn Family — " Master David " Seton —
Maitland's Eulogy of " Master David " — The Murrays — The
Lindsays — John Seton, Fifth Baron of Parbroath, Killed at
Flodden — The Burleighs — The Leslies — Sir David Seton, of

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xix

PAGE

Parbroath, Comptroller in the Reigns of Queen Mary and James
VI. — The Seton Miniature of Mary, Queen of Scots — The Last
Seton of Parbroath — History and Description of Parbroath
House — Old Dovecote at Parbroath — The Setons of Lathrisk —
Captain Patrick Seton — His Curious Will — The Setons of Clatto
— Seton-Karr of Kippilaw ....... 164

CHAPTER XVII.

Miscellany — Barony of Tranent, in Haddingtonshire, Granted to the
Setons in the Thirteenth Century — The Ancient Church of Tran-
ent— Bailie Seton's Tomb — Witchcraft in Tranent — Old Build-
ings of Tranent — Falside Castle — The Falside Family — El-
phinstone Castle — " Seyton, an Officer Attending on Macbeth"
— Shakespeare's "Macbeth" — Setons, "Confessors of the
Faith " — David Seton, Grand Prior of Scotland — Jesuits at Seton
— Seton Jesuits — Father Robert Seton, S.J. — Setons in Prison
for the '45 — Seton Tartan — Seton Names — Setons in Sweden —
In Italy — In Ireland — Last Man in England Killed in a Duel —
Seton Lake Mission ......... 209

CHAPTER XVIII.

Setons of New Vork Belong to the Parbroath Line — The Robertson
Family — Elizabeth Seton — The Cayleys — The Synnots — Kirk-
bridge, Yorkshire, England, Birthplace of Mary and Agnes
Berry — William Seton in England — William Seton in America —
Maria Synnot — William Seton (1) — The American Curzons — De-
scendants of William Seton (1) — Anna Maria Curzon — Elizabeth
Seton's Letter to Lady Cayley — William Seton (2) — The Bayley
Family in America — Miniature of E. A. Seton — Miniature of W.
M. Seton — Anna-Maria Seton — " Our Great-grandfather's Balls "
— New York Society at the End of the Eighteenth Century — Re-
becca Seton — Lady Cayley's Letter to Mrs. Seton — Mrs. Seton's
Letter to Mrs. Scott — Lady Cayley's Letter to Elizabeth Seton —
Death of Dr. Bayley, Health Officer of New York — Elizabeth
Seton's Letter to Rebecca Seton — Elizabeth Seton Becomes a
Catholic — James Seton — Alfred Seton — Samuel Waddington
Seton — Edward-Augustus Seton — Elizabeth and Charlotte Seton
— The Ogdens — Rebecca and Henrietta Seton — Cecilia Seton —
Descendants of Andrew and Margaret Seton — The Flemings of
Florida — Children of William Seton and Elizabeth Bayley —
Mother Catharine Seton — Richard Seton — William Seton (3) —
Midshipman Seton — Lieutenant Seton — The Primes — Rufus
Prime Marries into the Old English Family of Temple — Henry

XX TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Seton, Officer in the United States Army — Robert Seton, First
American to be Made a Roman Prelate — William Seton (4), Sol-
dier, Scholar, and Author ....... 239

CHAPTER XIX.

The Seton Estate at Cragdon, Westchester County, N. Y. — E. N.

Vallandigham's Description of Seton Lane .... 365

CHAPTER XX.
Lelia Seton Wilder ......... 384

CHAPTER XXL

Heraldry of the Setons — Earliest Seton Arms — Earl of Winton's
Arms — The Seton Crest — The Wyvern — Motto of the Setons —
Seton Supporters — Prior of Pluscardin's Arms — Earl of Dun-
fermline's Arms ......... 385

CHAPTER XXII.
Arms of the Setons of Parbroath ....... 400

Conclusion 402

Index ............ 403

List of Illustrations.

Robert Seton, D.D.

Arms of William, First Lord Seton

Seal of Sir Robert Avexei

dougall de say-toun

Sir, Christopher Seton's Two-handed Sword
Ruins of Loch Doon Castle, Ayrshire
Dumfries in the Sixteenth Century (full-page)
Seal of Roger de Quincy, 1250
r>er\vick-on-t\veed in i745 (full-page)
Sir Alexander Seton's Dagger
Seton Church (full-page)
Bell of Seton Church
Interior of Seton Church (full-page)
Seton Cairn, Edinburgh .
Ruins of Niddry Castle .
Mary, Queen of Scots, at Seton
Seton House in Ruins, 1790, Front View (full-page)
Seton House in Ruins, 1790, Rear View (full-page)
Seton Castle Raised by Mackenzie, 1798
Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire (full-page)
Seton Portrait Group (full-page)
Mary Seton's Watch ....

Robert Seton, First Farl of Wtinton, His Countess, and
Their only Daughter (full-page) .

The Roundle at Seton

Winton House, Haddingtonshire (full-page)

George, Fifth Earl of Winton (full-page) .

Signature of Lord Chancellor Seton .

Alexander Seton, First Earl of Dunfermline (full-page)

Pinkie House, Midlothian (full-page)

Ruins of Dalgety Lodge and Church (full-pace)

Sir Bruce-Maxwell Seton, Bart, (full-page)

English Burial Ground, Leghorn .

Seton Miniature of Mary, Queen of Scots (full-page)

Clump of Trees and Broken Arch, Parbroath (full-page)

Frontispiece

PAGE

Facing 1

9
23
29

30
31
37
39
43

59
61

63
6S
69

S5
91
99

103
10S
109
119
124

125
129

133
169

175

193
199

XX11

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Macbeth " (full-page)

Old Abandoned " Dookit " at Parbroath

Bailie Seton's Tomb, Tranent Churchyard

Old Tranent Church, and David Seton's Dookit

Ruins of Falside Castle .

Elphinstone Tower .

*' Seyton, an Officer Attending on

Elizabeth Seton (full-page)

E. S. Cayley (full-page) .

M. Seton Synnot (full-page) .

Mary Berry, 1790

Kirkbridge, Yorkshire, England (full-page)

Fountain, Ballymoyer, Ireland

Maria Synnot, 1796 .

William Seton's Notarial Seal

John Curzon Seton, 1798 .

William Seton (full-page)

E. A. Seton, 1794

William M. Seton (full-page)

James Seton, of New York

S. W. Seton (full-page)

E. A. Seton (full-page)

Margaret Seton Porter .

Saint Joseph's Sisterhood, 1810 (full-page) .

Margaret Seton, Wife of Andrew Seton, 1807 •

Charles Seton, Son of Andrew and Margaret Seton,

Mother Catharine Seton, 1870 (full-page) .

Richard B. Seton (full-page)

Mother Seton, 1820 (full-page) ....

William Sp:ton (full-page)

Nathaniel Prime (full-page) .....
Cornelia Sands (Mrs. Nathaniel Prime) (full-page)

Henry Seton (full-page)

Willie Seton (full-page)

Thomas Seton Jevons (full-page) ....

William Seton (full-page)

Plan of Cragdon and of East Chester Village (full-
Mansion House, Cragdon, 1850 (full-page)
William Seton, 1850 (full-page)
Skating Pond, Cragdon (full-page)
Emily Prime (Mrs. William Seton) (full-page)
Wolf's Cave at Cragdon (full-page)
Winter Scene at Cragdon (full-page) .
Seal of Sir Alexander Seton, 1216

811

'AGE

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213

215
217

221
223
241

245
247
249
251

259
26l
262
266
269
278
279
296
209
303
305
307
312

315

323
327

335
339
343
347
35i
353
357
361

363
3^7
3^9
373

375

379

3S1

386

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

xxin

Silver-mounted Shell Snuffbox given by the Earl of Win
ton to Sir George Seton of Parbroath

Arms on Earl of Winton's Snuffbox ....

Seton Crest

Later Arms of Seton

Arms of Duke of Richmond and Gordon

Arms of Seton of Abercorn, Bart. ....

Arms of Seton of Pitmedden, Bart

Arms of Governor Gordon of Pennsylvania

Arms of Baron Halkett

Arms of Earl of Eglinton

Arms of Alexander Seton, Commendatory Prior of Plus
cakdin

Arms of Alexander Seton, First Earl of Dunfermline

Later Arms of Seton of Parbroath ....

Book-plate of William Seton

Arms of Sir George Seton of Parbroath

Earlier Arms of Seton of Parbroath ....

387
389
39°
390
391
392
393
394
395
396

397
399
400
400
401
401

ARMS OF WILLIAM, FIRST LORD SETON.
(From the Armorial de Gelre, composed about 1369.)
This lord visited Jerusalem, and took an ante-
lope's head for a crest, as a memorial of his travels
and sport in the East.

Introduction.

'Tis opportune to look back upon old times and contemplate our forefathers.

— Browne : Urn Burial.

CHAPTER I.

The Setons are essentially a Scottish family, and, like all
the historical families of Scotland, are of Norman origin. It
is, moreover, one of the few families in Great Britain which
can be traced back to Normandy, and found established there
before the Conquest of England ; consequently it is one of
the oldest families in Europe. The Normans derived their
remote origin from that family of nations, the Getae, or
Goths, which was spread out from the steppes of Central
Asia to the shores of the Baltic. When Rollo, in the first
quarter of the tenth century, entered into full possession of
his dukedom, which henceforth proclaimed the origin of
its conquerors and settlers in the name itself of Normandy,
cta formal repartition of the ceded territory ensued," says
Palgrave, lt chieftains and soldiers taking or retaining their
shares." It should be observed that nearly all the Nor-
man nobility was of the same family stock as Duke Rollo,
and, like him, descended from the Royal House of Nor-
way, or Scandinavia. During the thirty years' reign of
Richard the Good, a.d. 996—1026, a new combination of
social elements was formed. cc Henceforth, " says Palgrave,
4 'the Norman annals abound with those historical names
rendered illustrious by the illusions of time and the blazonry

2 THE NORMAN ARISTOCRACY. [a.d.

which imagination imparts. With few exceptions the princi-
pal baronial families of Normandy appeared during this reign."
{Hist, of Eng. and Norm., III., 28.) Thus Feudalism arose,
an institution which is ignorantly associated in the modern
mind with whatever was oppressive and degrading during the
Middle Ages. Yet it found a certain class slaves, and it made
them serfs; which means that, not being any longer attached
to the person of a proprietor but to the soil, they were raised
a degree in the social scale. Feudalism fostered courage,
attachment to home, the spirit of disciplined subordination,
and love of country. Montalembert, in the sixth volume
of Les Moines dy Occident, touches on the advantages of this
system from the standpoint of Religion, and consequently of
Civilization. Writing the history of a family which belonged
to the earliest feudal hierarchy, I consider the matter only
from the side of genealogy and the personal positions arising
out of it which thus became important to the destiny of fam-
ilies and even of nations, wars in those ages having almost
always a dynastic origin. " As everything," says Hallam
{Middle Ages, I., 189), " in the habits of society conspired
with that prejudice which, in spite of moral philosophers, will
constantly raise the profession of arms above all others, it
was a natural consequence that a new species of aristocracy,
founded upon the mixed considerations of birth, tenure, and
occupation, sprung out of the feudal system. Every possessor
of a fief was a gentleman, though he owned but a few acres
of land, and furnished his slender contribution towards the
equipment of a knight. . . . There still, however, wanted
something to ascertain gentility of blood where it was not
marked by the actual tenure of land. This was supplied by
two innovations devised in the eleventh and twelfth centuries:
the adoption of surnames and of armorial bearings. The first
are commonly referred to the former age, when the nobility
began to add the names of their estates to their own, or, hay-

1000] THE NORMAN ARISTOCRACY. 3

ing in any way acquired a distinctive appellation, transmitted
it to their posterity." For a family, therefore, to have a
peculiar and a territorial designation in the eleventh century
was proof of high rank. At an earlier period even the noblest
had only personal surnames, which were generally descriptive
of an individual quality, good or bad. Yet these were not
surnames at all in our usual sense, although at a later age they
were transmitted to descendants when surnames became com-
mon to all classes, and can generally be distinguished from
those other names whose origin is essentially noble because it
springs from the freehold of land, " the patent and passport
of self-respect " among all races. It was, probably, first in
Normandy and with the introduction of the feudal system that
the use of transmissible surnames was established among the
nobility. From there they were introduced into England and
Scotland, and parts of Ireland, after the Conquest. Many of
the followers of William had taken names from their castles
or villages, which they used with the French prefix de before
them. This particule nobiliaire was discarded in Great Britain
with the disappearance of the Norman-French language, and
it is in bad taste to try to revive it now. When the native
Norse names of the earlier settlers in Normandy were modi-
fied to suit their new language — the language of civilization,
which at that time was French, with a predominant Latin
element — descriptive or incidental names were given or as-
sumed. It was only later that, under the influence, as has
been said, of chivalry and other feudal institutions, we find
these hereditary and territorial surnames, indicative of landed
property and patrician descent, which became so great a source
of pride to men of Norman blood. It was once the fashion
to speak of the Norman barons who fought at Hastings-Peven-
sey Beach, 1066 — as adventurers from every part of France
who, from a condition of homeless vagabonds, became sud-
denly possessed of lands and castles in England ; but it is false,

4 THE NORMAN ARISTOCRACY. [a.d.

although insisted upon by a distinguished English and an
equally distinguished French historian, belonging both, how-
ever, to the School of Preconceived Notions. The learned
author of the Norman People says: " As a whole, the native
Norman nobility who were transferred in a bodv to England
were not inferior in birth to those of any country in Europe."
The followers of the Conqueror were the flower of the Nor-
man nobility, and Normandy was the crown and glory of
France and of Europe. Norman nobles had already left their
impress on Naples, Sicilv, Spain, and Russia. Then, again, it
has been objected that their origin was recent and piratical, and
the Vikings have been assailed by many vituperative names.
Thev were not originally pirates from inclination and lust of
gain, but from the political usurpation of the more powerful
chieftains, which worked such a change in the life and char-
acter of the Northern people toward the end of the eighth
century that the less fortunate but braver ones, scorning to
endure oppression at home, naturally took to the sea, not as
mere corsairs, but as men despoiled of their patrimony, and
striving to find a resting-place and make a settlement in some
other part of the world. * When these hardy Normans settled
down in any country, they showed themselves as well adapted
to the pursuits of peaceful industry as to those of war and
rapine. They had a wonderful capacity for assimilation to
the conditions of a higher culture than their own, and wher-
ever they remained they soon became the most influential in-
habitants. France, England, and Scotland are examples of
this process on a great scale. Hence we agree with Burton,
who says {Hist, of Scot. , II., 14): " In looking at the success

* We may recall as an extenuating circumstance what that grave judge,
Lord Stowell, observed of the Buccaneers, whose spirit at one time ap-
proached to that of chivalry in point of adventure, and whose manner of
life was thought to reflect no disgrace upon distinguished Englishmen who
engaged in it. — Seton : Essays — " Italian Commerce in the Middle Ages,"
p. 41.

iooo] PI COT. 5

of the Normans, both social and political, as a historical prob-
lem, it has to be noted that we have no social phenomena in
later times with which this one could be measured and com-
pared. Coming from the rude North into the centre of Latin
civilization, they at once took up all the civilization that was
around them, and then carried it into higher stages of devel-
opment."

CHAPTER II.

The sword and spear, or lance, were the offensive weapons
of the early Normans. They were called Free Arms, as being
peculiarly appropriate to men of valor and high degree. The
first of our family of whom there is any record bore the war-
rior-like name of PICOT, the Pikeman. We next find Picot,
which is a name of profession, a descriptive name, associated
with a place-name, Avenel — as though to say Oatlands — be-
cause the portion allotted to him in the distribution of territory
among the followers of Rollo was rich agricultural land pro-
ducing oats (avena, Lat. ; avoine, Fr.), the strengthening food
of that fine breed of horses for which Normandy was famous. *
Avenelle is in the immediate neighborhood of the Pays de
Perche, which has given a name to those magnificent draught
horses called Percherons, which have been so largely imported
into the United States; and it is interesting to note, in this
connection, that my father was the first American to introduce
them for breeding purposes, sending two brood-mares and
a stallion from near Chartres, in Eure et Loire, in August,
1856, to my brother William, who then owned property at
Dixon, Lee County, Illinois.

* Thus, also, we find such place-names in Normandy as FaveroWes,
Favard, Favary (Jules Janin : La Normandie), derived from /a da, Lat.,
/eve, Fr., a bean, the b and v being — as in Spanish — interchangeable.

6 PICOT-AVENEL. [a.d.

Afterward we come, in the early Norman records, to an-
other local name attributed to Picot and to Avenel, which is
de Say.

The family even at this early period branched out into two
lines, that of Avenel and that of Say, both of which became
baronial families in Normandy, in England, and in Scotland;
but although the former was the senior branch, its fortunes
were not equal to the junior, and in a little more than a couple
of centuries it became extinct or so reduced as to be practi-
cally unknown. Duncan (Hist, of the Dukes of Norm., pub-
lished in 1839) tells us that u Say is near Argentan. The
lords of this district took the name of Picot, and they are in-
differently spoken of by the old chronicles as Picot simply, and
Picot de Say." This, as regards the name, is an aetiological
error. The lords of Say — which is a feudal designation — did
not take the name of Picot, but quite the reverse; the Picots
took the name of de Say, although their original name or
sobriquet continued for some generations in the family, coupled
with its later territorial one, until cast off altogether. As de-
scriptive are less noble than territorial names, they are also
less rare, because while only one family could have the name
of a fief which was their estate, many families in no way re-
lated in blood might have the same name when it was one that
of its nature could be common to many individuals. Say sur-
vives in only two peerage families in Great Britain ; whereas
Picot is represented in such ordinary names as Pigot, Pigott,
Pike, Pick, Picket, Pigou, and other variations. An inspec-
tion of Burke's General Armory will show that the arms granted
to or assumed by these people are generally u pickaxes," or
" pike heads," or " pike staves," or simply u pikes"; and
even when fusils are assigned to them there is no doubt that
they were originally lance heads, a certain kind of which, loz-
enge-shaped, exactly resembles the figure called a " fusil " in
heraldry. These are what the French call " Armes Par-

1025-1185] PICOT AVENEL DE SAT. 7

lantes, " or canting arms, and are considered vulgar, although
they are sometimes very old.

As our family was originally sprung from the House of
Avenel, I will say something of this house before proceeding
to the de Says and the de Say-tunes, de Sey-tounes, de Setons,
Setons. Avenel was one of the great names of Normandy.
The Avenels were lords of Biard, or Es-Biard, now Les
Biards, on the River Selune, in the Canton of Isigny, and the
Arrondissement of Mortaine, of whose counts they were the
hereditary seneschals. According to Vincent of Beauvais, a
thirteenth-century author, they descended from Harold the
Dane, a kinsman and companion-in-arms of Rollo, first Duke
of Normandy. Herve Avenel, Baron of Biars, confirmed a
grant to Marmoutiers Abbey in 1035, and was probably brother
of Osmeline Avenel, Lord of Say, who made grants to Saint
Martin's, at Seez, about 1030, which were confirmed by Picot
Avenel, his son. In 1067 his sons Herveius (Herve) de
Biars and Sigebert are mentionedo William Avenel de Biars,
seneschal to Robert, Count of Mortaine, was present at the
battle of Hastings in 1066, along with others of his more
immediate name and family. They figure on the Roll as :

Le Sieur Desbiars.

Avenel Desbiars.

Le Sieur Avenel de Viars.

Although he was poorly rewarded by the Conqueror and re-
turned to Normandy, the family was numerous and eventually
held great estates in England and Scotland. This William
Avenel is probably the same who, in 1082, was a benefactor
to the Abbey of Saint Pierre-de-la-Couture, at Mans, giving
to it the patronage of a church. There was a " Church of
Avenelles " in the viscounty of Exmes, an old town on the
River Dives in the modern Department of Orne. In n 86 we
find that Richard, brother of William Avenel, gave u tres
acras terrae in Herrevilla et aliam villain " to the Monastery

8 THE AVENELS. [a.d. 1124

of Lessay, as appears in the Charter of King Henry II. and
from the Bull of confirmation of Pope Urban III. Herre-
villa was presumably a village founded by Herve (Latinized
Herveius} Avenel, and called for himself Herveville — in Latin
Herveii villa — and by corruption Herrevilla, as in the text.
In 1 191 William Avenel, lord of Les Biards and seneschal
to the Count of Mortaine, is found father to Roland, Nich-
olas, and Oliver. A Ralph is also mentioned. The elder
line of Avenel held Les Biards until the extinction of that
branch, or perhaps main trunk, of the family in Normandy in
1258. There are Counts of Avenel among the French noblesse
to-day ; but although they bear the name — taken from the
lands they have in some way acquired — they are a compara-
tively modern family. Sir Francis Turner Palgrave, treating
of baronial castles in Normandy, gives Amfreville as the seat
of the " Umfrevilles, the Avenels, and many more " (Appen-
dix III., 651), and also " BIARS: hence the Avenels and
the Vernons. This family became very illustrious in Eng-
land, and still more in Scotland." In the thirteenth century
Alice, heiress of Sir William Avenel, brought to the Vernons
the vast estate of Haddon, in Derbyshire. Another branch,
seated at Blackpool, in Devonshire, ended about 1450 in three
co-heiresses.

In Scotland the Avenels held one of the most important
baronies of the March, or Border. Robert Avenel, the first
Lord of Eskdale, received his lands from King David I.,
whom he accompanied back from England to Scotland, like
many other Anglo-Norman nobles, who there founded new
families, which in some cases rose to greater eminence and
lasted longer than the older ones of their kin who remained
in the South. Robert de Avenel, in the reign of King Mal-
colm IV., gave the monks of Saint Mary's Abbey, at Mel-
rose, parcels of land in Eskdale, reserving to himself the right
of hunting the wild boar, deer, or stag, also a yearly rent of

a.d. 1243] THE AVENELS IN SCOTLAND. 9

five marks. One of these marks he remitted for maintaining a
light to burn perpetually before the altar of the Blessed Virgin
Mary. On the death of his wife Sybilla he remitted the
other four marks, to be expended upon four pittances for the
monks, yearly, and at fixed seasons. He entered this same
monastery in his old age, and died in 1185. His son, Ger-

SEAL OF SIR ROBERT AVENEL.

(From a Melrose charter.)
Supplying the words effaced, the inscription would read, Sigillum Roberti de Avenel.

vaise, confirmed his father's grant; but Roger, the grandson,
disputed about it with the monks, sent his cattle into their
grounds, pulled down their houses, and broke their fences.
Both parties met at Linton, in 1235, before King Alexander
II., when it was decided that the pastures belonged to the
monks, but that they were not to hunt there with hounds nor
allow others to do so, nor were they to cut down trees in
which hawks and falcons built their nests. Like all the great

IO THE SATS. [a.d. 1030

nobles of that warlike age, the lord of Eskdale paid much
attention to the breeding of horses, and had an extensive stud
in that valley. Some time between 1236 and 1249 Jonn^ tne
son of Gervaise Avenel, made over to the Monastery of
Inchcolme twenty-six acres of land in his territory of Dud-
dinston, within the barony of Abercorn; and in King Alex-
ander II. 's Charter for the foundation of Pluscardyn Priory
in 1236, Roger Avenel is a witness. The principal line fin-
ished in an heiress in 1243, wnen Roger's great domain passed
to his son-in-law Henry de Graham of Dalkeith. Thus
ended the name of " Avenel, remembered only in tradition,
or embalmed by one who could control and direct even the
current of popular tradition ' (Innes, Scotland in the Middle
Ages, p. 128, in allusion to Scott's novel of " The Mon-
astery "). The Duke of Montrose, head of the House of
Graham, is the representative of the senior line of the
Avenels.

CHAPTER III.

Say was a fief in Normandy which came to the Picots and
the Avenels, and gave a name to a distinguished baronial fam-
ily sprung from them. In Stapleton's Magni Rotuli Scaccarii
Normanniae sub Regibus Angliae, with Observations on the Rolls
of the Norman Exchequer, published in 1844, the fief is des-
ignated Say, Sai, and Seye. It is elsewhere found written
Saie. The Honour of Say was on the River Orne, near Ar-
gentan, about twenty-six miles northwest of Alencon. The
learned authors of Gallia Christiana tell us, in describing the
Diocese of Seez, that its earliest Latin name, like that of the
Gallic tribe which inhabited the territory, was Sail, and it is
so set down in Spriiner's Hand Atlas . . . des Mittelalters,
1854. I would naturally suppose that the little village or

A.D. 1060] FOUNDATION CHART OF ST. MARTIN. 1 1

castle which forms our root-name had some connection, now-
unknown, with the mother-town, or with the ancient tribe
which gave its name to the metropolis. On the map of old
Normandv prefixed to Taylor's JVace, Say is located in the
district of Exmois, now represented by the city of Exmes,
chef-lieu de canton, between Argentan and Seez. Say, in Nor-
mandy, is what the Germans would call the Schloss-stamm of
our race. The earliest mention of any of the family with
this appellation is that of Picot Avenel de Say, living a.d.
1030 under Robert, sixth Duke of Normandy. His son,
Robert Fitz-Picot (i.e., the son — fits corrupted to fit% — of
Picot), Lord of Aunay, was co-founder of Saint Martin of
Seez, in 1060. The original donation from the Chartulary
of the Diocese of Seez is given in Gallia Christiana, XL,
pp. 152, 153, Ed. Palme, 1874, as follows:

" Notum sit omnibus quia dominus Abbas Robertus, faventibus omnibus
fratribus coenobii Sancti Martini Sagii, in capitulo ejusdem coenobii dedit
Roberto de Sayo qui cognominabatur Picot, et Adeloyae uxori suae, cum
summa devotione petentibus societatem et beneficium totius congregationis
sicut uni monachorum ipsius coenobii, et similiter Roberto atque Henrico
filiis suis : Ita quidem ut si aliquis ipsorum monachus voluerit effici, effi-
cietur in monasterio Sancti Martini Sagiensis. Qui vero ex illis omnibus in
saeculari habitu morietur, in coemeterio Sancti Martini, ut monachus per
omnia susceptus sepelietur. Ipsi vero in eodem capitulo pro hac largissima
concessione et pro animarum tarn suarum quam parentum suorum, perpetua
salvatione dederunt et perpetuo concesserunt praedicto sancto et fratribus
suis praedicti coenobii monachis, aedificium matris Picot cum virgulto quod
habebat juxta ecclesiam Sanctae Mariae de Vrou et decern acras terrae in
parochia ejusdem ecclesiae, et terram ad hortum unum sufificientem, quae
terra erat in pratis, et decimam duorum molendinorum, quorum unum est
supra Olnam et alterum supra Uram ; dederunt etiam prata totius insulae de
Atheis, et unam piscatoriam quae dicitur de Louis, et unam acram prati in
pratis de Juvigneio, et duas acras terrae in ipsa villula quae erat de dote
Adeloyae uxoris suae, et cum his datis de propriis rebus concesserunt quod
Osmelinus de Sayo dedit Sancto Martino in eodem capitulo et eodem die,
tertiam partem totius ecclesiae de Sayo in omnibus reditibus altaris et
decima cum duabus acris terrae ; et ipse Osmelinus et uxor ejus Avitia et
omnes antecessores sui recepti sunt in praedicti monasterii f raterna societate.
Hoc totum viderunt et audierunt Guaschelinus de Vrou et Robertus filius

12 THE SATS [a.d.

Garini Pillcpot, et Radulphus presbyter de Vrou ; cum his quoque concesse-
runt ecclesias de Vrou cum decimis et quatuor acris terrae et dimidia cum
terra sacerdotis, quod totum dederat Osmelinus qui cognominabatur Avenel-
lus, Sancto Martino, pro salute animae suae et antecessorum suorum ; con-
cesserunt etiam quod Gaufredus filius Oderelli dederat Sancto Martino quic-
quid decimae habebat in parochia de Vrou, pro qua fundatione habuit ipse
Gaufredus cum beneficio concesso monasterii triginta solidos cenoman-
nenses ; adhuc quoque concesserunt quod Guaschelinus de Vrou dederat
Sancto Martino quicquid decimae habebat in parochia de Vrou et de Sayo,
nihil sibi reservans, cum duabus acris terrae ; et pro hac donatione cum
concesso monasterii beneficio habuit quatuordecim solid, cenomannenses
et unum pullum equorum pro decern et octo solidis cenomannensibus, teste
ipso et Radulpho presbytero, et fratre ejusdem Roberti, et Christiano de
Furcis etiam concedentibus : Dedit Hugo de Juvigneyo vSancto Martino
medietatem ipsius ecclesiae, cujus alteram medietatem nos habemus de
dono Picot et uxoris ejus Adeloyae, et unam acram prati pro concesso sibi
beneficio monasterii, cum viginti solidis census. Signum Rogerii comitis,
signum Picot, signum Roberti filii ejus, signum Henrici filii Picot, signum
Adeloyae uxoris Picot, signum Ricardi Capellani."

The italics are those of Gal. Chr.

We now come to that great enterprise which brought de
Says and many other barons across the Narrow Sea. The
Conquest of England by the Normans is the most important
event in history since the fall of Rome. Nothing in the Mid-
dle Ages can be compared to it for grandeur of conception,
completeness of result, and abiding influence on the world.
The Rolls, as they are called, of the knights who fought at
Hastings have an antiquarian and genealogical interest un-
equalled by anything similar commemorating success in arms.
There are variations, omissions, and probably repetitions in
these famous lists of names. Say is found in Holinshed but
not in Duchesne, in Leland but not at Dives, although
u Roger Picot " figures there. Dives is a little town, once a
seaport of Normandy, in whose harbor William first assembled
his fleet for the invasion of England; and on a wall in the old
Church of Notre Dame are inscribed the names of the knights
who gathered there at his summons. More reliable, however,
than any of these is the metrical poem on Rollo and the

1066] AT CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. 13

Dukes of Normandy, called the Roman du Rou, by Master
Robert Wace, a Norman cleric, who wrote within a century
after the Conquest. There are two good editions of Wace.
The first is in French, with " very valuable notes " by Fred-
eric Pluquet, published at Rouen in 1827. The second is in
English, and is called Chronicle of the Norman Conquest, trans-
lated with Notes and Illustrations, by Edgar Taylor, F.S.A.,
London, 1837. The following is the original passage, as it
appears in Wace's Norman-French, in which he describes the
engagement between the two armies and introduces de Say :

" Cil de Vitrie et d'Urinie
Cil de Moubrai e de Sai'e
E li Sire de la Ferte

Maint Engleiz tint acravente [assomm^]

Grant mal i firent li plusor [la plupart]

E mult i perdirent des lor."

Taylor translated the passage in prose :

' The Lords of Vitrie and Urinie, de Moubrai and Saie, and the sire de
la Ferte, smote down many of the English, most of whom suffered griev-
ously and many of them were killed."

Pluquet's note on Saie is: u Say pres Argentan. Les sei-
gneurs de ce lieu prenaient le surnom ou nom de famille de
Picot, sous lequel ils sont quelquefois cites sans autre desi-
gnation." Of all the lists of barons who shared in the glory
of that day, the most renowned in succeeding ages was the
one with some six hundred names of Normans attached, long
preserved in the Monastery of Saint Martin, which the Con-
queror founded on the field of Hastings, and which was com-
pleted during the reign of his son, William Rufus, in 1094.
It is called from this circumstance the Roll of Battle Abbey ;
and here in after ages the monks displayed before the nobles of
England and Scotland that long and famous register of compan-
ions of the Conqueror from whom they deduced their lineage :

i4 THE SATS. [a.D. 1083

<( There is no pride like the pride of ancestry, for it is a
blending of all emotions " (Disraeli).

The late Duchess of Cleveland, inheriting the literary taste
of the Stanhopes, published in three volumes, in 1889, a mag-
nificent work on Battle Abbey Roll, in which the families and
descendants of all the great Norman barons are described.

CHAPTER IV.

Dugdale tells us, in his English Baronage, that there were
of old two considerable families named Say which derived from
the same Norman original. One remained in England, and
the other, as we shall see, settled in Scotland. The first time
the name occurs in any public document in England after the
Conquest is in 1083, when Picot de Say, whose real fore-name
was Robert (for he was one of the two sons of Robert de Say
and his wife Adelaide, of the Charter of Saint Martin of Seez),
is mentioned as one of the principal persons in Shropshire,
where he held no less than twenty-nine lordships. He is the
ancestor of all the Says in England and Scotland, and was a
baron of England during the Conqueror's reign. He also
held the Castle of Marigny with other possessions in Nor-
mandy, and continued, like many others, to be represented in
both countries. Clun was the largest of his manors in Shrop-
shire, and gave its name to his barony. In 1083 he was sum-
moned, with other chief men of the county, to attend the
dedication of Shrewsbury Abbey. His son Henry succeeded
him, and was followed by Helias. Helias left an only daugh-
ter Isabel, Lady of Clun, who married William Fitz-Alan,
Governor of Shrewsbury and Sheriff of the County. She died
in 1 199. By descent from her the Dukes of Norfolk inherit
this very ancient barony. Other branches of the family
became numerous. Those described by Eyton in Shropshire

a.d. 1092] THE SATS IN ENGLAND. 15

alone form no inconsiderable list. Within thirty years of
Domesday, Theodoric de Say, a cadet of the Baron of Clun,
was enfeoffed bv Roger de Lacy of Stoke, afterward called
Stoke-Say, which preserves in its Anglo-Saxon prefix — a not
uncommon one before old English place-names — the idea of
ground selected for defensive purposes : stoc being the root-
word for a palisade of wood, a stockade, and carries the mind
back to those troubled years immediately succeeding the Con-
quest, when a terrible cry went through the land :

" Haec mea sunt ; veteres migrate coloni."

Then the Normans, detested by the natives, had to throw up
hastv breastworks and timber fortifications around their dwell-
ings, veritable hill forts mostly, until they had leisure to erect
towers and castles of stone. I visited the grand old ruins of
Stoke-Say with Charles Compton Seton, Esq., of Heath
House, Shropshire, with whom I was staying, in 1896. A
historv of it has been published by the Rev. J. D. Latouche.
This Theodoric de Say was a good man (for a Norman), and
gave certain lands in Shropshire to the Abbey of Saints Peter
and Paul, at Shrewsbury ; and even Picot de Say, who cruelly
oppressed the Saxons, appears as an ecclesiastical benefactor
in 1092. He erected a church and monastery in honor of
Saint Giles within the bounds of Camboritum; and strangely
as the building has been disfigured in later times, some small
relics of the work of the rapacious sheriff still survive. (Free-
man, Norm. Conq., IV., 149.) This was, doubtless, an act
of reparation and a sign of repentance for his iniquities, made,
perhaps, at the suggestion of his pious wife, the Lady Hugolina.
Hugh de Say, son of Hugh Fitz-Osbern and Eustachia de
Say, took his mother's name, being a younger son — his brother
was Osbert Fitz-Hugh- — and eventually succeeded to the great .
inheritance of Ricard's Castle, in Herefordshire, which de-
rived its name from Richard Scrope, a baron in the reign

1 6 AND AGAIN IN NORMANDY. [a.D. 1131

of Edward the Confessor and Hugh's paternal grandfather.
Many other notices of de Says are found scattered about in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in England. Thus we
come across a William de Say who married Agnes, daughter
of Hugh de Grentemesnil ; a Gervasia de Say ; a Margaret,
daughter of Hugh de Say, and wife of Hugh de Ferrieres, who
died in 1205; a Robert de Say, who received from King
Henry III. a grant of the manor of Stratfleld, in Hampshire,
which then became known as Stratfleld-&7y^. It eventually
came to the Dabridgecourts, and was purchased in this cen-
tury by the British Parliament for the Duke of Wellington
and his heirs. In Normandy the family continued to flourish
while maintaining its English connection. There we find
that Godfrey de Say, in 1083, witnessed a charter to the
Church of the Blessed Trinity, at Seez ; that on Julv 15,
1 131, Jordan de Say and Lucy his wife founded an abbey
at Aunay or Aulnay, near Caen, which was one of his lord-
ships ; that his heiress, named Agnes de Say, carried the
estates into the family of Hommet, by her marriage with the
Constable Richard de Hommet. Jordan, eighteenth Bishop of
Lisieux (now a suppressed see), and a member of the power-
ful family of the Lords of Hommet, witnessed in 1194, when
Archdeacon of the Cathedral, a charter of his brother William
de Sai, a benefactor of the Abbey of Aunay-sur-Odon (in
the present Department of Calvados), twenty-one miles from
Bayeux, which Jordan and Lucy de Say had founded over
sixty years before. The site of this Benedictine monastery
was changed, and its possessions increased by Richard de Hom-
met, Constable of the English king, as Duke of Normandv,
who enumerates in his charter the earlier donations of his
kinsman de Say before setting forth his own. The docu-
ment, printed entire in Gallia Christiana, Vol. XL, p. 443, is
interesting as showing what were some of the possessions 0/
the de Says in the twelfth century.

A.D. 1382-1447] THE SAY CO-HEIRESSES. 17

Ingelram de Sav and other adherents of King Stephen, in his
dispute for the crown with the Empress Maud, encountered in
Lent, a.d. 1 138, Reginald de Dunstanville and Baldwin de
Red vers with their followers outside of the Castle of Homme,
and quickly coming to close quarters defeated them and took
many prisoners. He was himself taken prisoner at the battle of
Lincoln in 1141, an episode that directs us back to England;
but as the Scottish branch had been already some years
planted in the northern kingdom, I will note but few things
more about the English Says. Geoffrey de Say was in arms
against King John, and was one of the twenty-five barons
appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Charta. In
1382 Elizabeth de Say became the heiress of this ancient
barony ; but dying childless a few years later, it fell into
abeyance — as it still continues — between the descendants of
her aunts Idonea de Say, Lady Clinton, and Joan de Sav, Lady
Fiennes, who carry on the family in the female line. The
Setons of Scotland, and specifically the Setons of Parbroath,
are the only representatives of the once great House of Say
in unbroken male descent. One of the Fiennes was created
Lord Saye and Sele in 1447, and is that unfortunate noble-
man, " Lord Say," who degraded himself, it seems to me,
by " pleading so well for his life," as in Shakespeare's Henry
VI., Pt. 2. His descendant was advanced to be Viscount
Saye and Sele. He is badly spoken of by Lord Clarendon,
in his History of the Rebellion, who, with the instincts of a
man of recent origin suddenly raised to affluence and rank,
refers to his poverty and sneers at his claim of ancient lineage
in these words: " The Lord Viscount Say, a man of a close
and reserved nature, of a mean and narrow fortune, of great
parts, and of the highest ambition." Again: "Lord Say
... no man valued himself more upon his title, or had
more ambition to make it greater and to raise his fortune,
which was but moderate for his title. He was of a proud,
2

1 8 THEIR DESCENDANTS. [a.D. 1635

morose, and sullen nature ; conversed much with books, hav-
ing been bred a scholar, and (though nobly born) a fellow of
New College in Oxford ; to which he claimed a right by the
alliance he pretended to have from William of Wickham, the
founder; which he made good by such an unreasonable pedi-
gree, through so many hundred years, half the time whereof
extinguishes all relation of kindred." The Viscount is remem-
bered, after a fashion, in the little town of Saybrook, Conn.,
which was originated in 1635, and named in compliment " to
its two noble patrons," Lords Say and Brook, who both
figured ridiculously in a " proposition that an hereditary order
of nobility be established in the province."

An Old Family.

CHAPTER I.

SAY-TONS, I I OJ-I I24.

Let us now consider the Says and their descendants in
North Britain. Scotland, so justly proud of her aristocracy,
claims the proudest ancestry from the stranger. The Gael
has furnished little to the Scottish peerage. Its noblest names
— Bruce, Stewart, Sinclair, Hamilton, Montgomerie, Gordon,
Lindsay, Campbell, and Seton, to mention only some of the
many that give poetry to Scotland's streams, dignity to her
towers, honor to her annals ; whose cry has resounded in
battle from Bannockburn to Flodden, whose knightly banners
have led on to victory with " fierce native daring'' or have
succumbed to defeat with heroic resignation — all belong to
families which spring from the settlers in Normandy and the
conquerors of England. Several, perhaps many, Norman ad-
venturers in Scotland continued to hold, or later inherited,
estates in England. This explains how they sometimes gave
their allegiance to one side and sometimes to the other, in the
disputes between the two kingdoms, as, from the standpoint of
feudal law, both sides had claims upon them. Such a state
of affairs bred serious consequences to the fortunes and persons
of nobles of Norman descent holding lands in either kingdom.

The first appearance of a de Say in Scotland was in the
reign of King Alexander I. (1107-1124), and it antedated by

20 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

some years the peaceful invasion of Anglo-Normans under his
brother and successor, David I. Then they came to the
number of at least a thousand, to whom the king distributed
lands which they settled with their followers. The particular
cause of de Say's establishing himself in Scotland thus early
was a dispute between a baron and his suzerain, something
quite common in that turbulent age. Robert Fitz-Picot was
Baron of Brunne, in Cambridgeshire, in ic86, where " the
moat of his castle and a few other traces of the building yet
remain." His oldest son, Robert Fitz-Picot, the viscount,
forfeited the barony for rebellion against King Henry I., who
granted it to Pain Peverell, said to be the husband of Robert's
sister. " A younger brother of Robert, Saher de Say, took
refuge in Scotland and obtained grants from Alexander I.,
named after him Say-ton. From him descended the Lords
Sey-ton or Seton, Earls of Winton," etc. (Cleveland, Battle
Abbey Roll.*) The same account is given in Chalmers's Cale-
donia ; and the Irish genealogist and writer, Sir Bernard Burke,
says: u The first of the great house of Seton established in
North Britain was Secher de Say, who had a grant of lands in
East Lothian, which being called ' Saytun ' (the dwelling of
Say), gave rise to a name and family which became pre-emi-
nently distinguished in the annals of Scotland." In Fran-
cisque Michel's Ecossais en France et Fran^ais en Ecosse, " the
Setons who derive from the Norman family of Say " are men-
tioned among the most important Scotch families of Anglo-
Norman origin. Saher de Say would probably travel north with
the usual retinue of a knight at that period, which consisted of
one or two men-at-arms, clad in mail like their leader, and
mounted, and several archers on foot. The Scottish Court
had favored men of Norman race ever since the reign of
Malcolm III., or Canmore, when their influence first began to
spread through Scotland the feudal usages and civilization of
the Continent. The knight or baron, having got his grant

li 07- 1 124] SAHER DE SAT. 2\

of land, proceeded forthwith to build a castle and a church —
both of rude materials and of ruder architecture — a mill, and a
brew-house, and huts for the serfs ; and thereby formed about
himself a hamlet which in the practice of the age was called
the ton of the lord. Hence such old Scotch names, besides
our own, as Hamil-ton, Livings-ton, Johns-ton, Edmons-ton.
" They have called their lands by their names ' (Ps. xlviii.
12), marking them as their own.

The place where Saher de Say rested is between Tranent
and the sea, some ten miles below Edinburgh ; and it con-
tinued to be the principal habitation of his family for over six
hundred years.

It were great pleasure to a man to know the origin and beginring of
his house and surname, and how long it has stood, with good actions and
virtue of his predecessors ; and it were right profitable, because when a man
remembers the good beginning of his house and surname, the long standing
thereof, the honorable and virtuous actions of his predecessors, it will give
occasion to every man to preserve and maintain the house that his forefathers
have acquired, and he will be the more loath to do anything that may be to
the hurt or decav of the same. — Maitlaxd's Prologue.

CHAPTER II.

A.D. I 100-12 58.

I. The founder of the long line of Scotch Setons was, as
has been said, a Norman refugee, Saher de Say. His peculiar
fore-name, which is found written Secher, Seyer, Saier, and
Sair, is only a corruption or vulgar rendering of Saire, a her-
mit-saint in the Diocese of Rouen, whose cult was popular
among the Norman nobility. In those times proper names
were all written phonetically and just as the ear caught them,
which accounts for the numerous forms under which the same
name will appear, and sometimes in the very same document.
The village and church of Saint Saire, with fourteenth-century
glass windows and an ancient crypt containing a well, is about
five miles from the town of Neuchatel-en-Bray. Saint Saire
is perpetuated as a patronymic in Sayers, Sears, and cog-
nate forms which are common family names in England and
America, and are of Norman, although not of baronial origin ;
unless, perhaps, Sears be a corruption not of the Norman,
but of the Scoto-Celtic Saint Serf (Lat. Servanus\ popularlv
called ct Saint Sear," who did so much for the early religious
culture of the western districts of Fife.

II. The son of Saher de Say is known in our family history
as Dougall de Say-toun. His Christian name is unknown, as
he was usually described by a familiar appellation in the lan-
guage of the people around him. The Normans wore a strong
coat of mail, which made them objects of dread and wonder
to the Britons, Saxons, Picts, and Celts, in whose ancient
songs they were called Du-gall, the " Black Strangers," from
the appearance they made when encased in armor. Dougall

EARLIEST SETONS.

de Savtoun, then, literally means " The Black Stranger (lord)
of the town of Say." He flourished in the reign of Alexan-
der I., a.d. 1 107— 1 124, and married Janet, daughter of Rob-
ert de Quincy, and not of Roger, who lived nearly a century
later. The baronial family of Quincy, which derives from
Quince in Maine, rose almost suddenly
to great importance both in England
and Scotland, and in two centuries
more was only a memory and extinct.
Richard de Quincy came in at the Con-
quest. His son Robert, of whom
above, married Maud de St. Liz,
daughter of Simon de St. Liz, Earl
of Huntingdon and Northampton, and
of Maud, or Matilda, elder of the two
daughters of Waltheof, son of Syward
the Saxon Earl of Northumberland, and
of Judith, niece to the Conqueror on
his mother's side. Simon was a Cru-
sader, and died in France in n 15, on
his return from the Holy Land, leaving
besides this daughter two sons, of whom
one, named Waltheof or Waldeve, was
Abbot of Melrose. He is honored as a saint on August 3d.

III. Seher de Setoune succeeded to Dougall, his father.
u Whom he married I find not certainly in any register of the
house," says honest Maitland. He lived in the time of King
David I. ( 1 124— 1 153).

IV. Philip de Setoune succeeded to Seher, his father. He
also made a strong alliance by marrying Helen (sometimes
called Alice — she probably had both names : one given
in baptism and the other at confirmation), only daughter of
Waldeve or Waltheof, fifth Earl of Dunbar and March, by

DOUGALL BE SAY-TOUN.
(From the Touch Armorial Tree.)

See his Life in Alban Butler, who calls him Saint Walthen or Waltheof.

24 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1169

Aelina, his wife. This great family, once the most powerful
in Scotland, is now represented by the Marquess of Bute.
Philip got a charter from King William the Lion, in 1169,
confirming to him certain lands, which remained in possession
of his descendants for more than five hundred years. It is
one of the oldest Scottish charters in existence, and is men-
tioned with enthusiasm by the learned Cosmo Innes {Scotland
in the Middle Ages, p. 20), who says: " I could not give you
a better specimen of one of those ancient simple conveyances
than a charter of William the Lion, a grant to the ancient
family of Seton. It conveys three great baronies, confers all
baronial privileges, fixes the reddendo at one knight's service,
expresses the formal authentication of a goodly array of wit-
nesses, and is comprised in seven short lines. The original
is in possession of the Earl of Eglinton and Winton." Here
follows a copy :

" Willielmus Dei grat. Rex Scotorum, episcopis, abbatibus, comitibuSj
baronibus, justiciariis, vice comitibus, ministris et omnibus probis (homini-
bus) totius terrae nostrae, clericis et laicis, salutem. Sciatis praesentes et
futuri me concessisse, et hac carta mea confirmasse, Phillipo de Seytune
terram quae fuit patris sui, scilicet Seytune, ©t Wintune, et Winchelburgh,
tenendam sibi et heredibus suis da me et heredibus meis in feodo et haere-
ditate ; in bosco et piano, in terris et aquis, in pratis et pascuis et in omni-
bus earundem terrarum justis pertinentiis ; cum sacca et socca, tholl et
them, et infangthief, cum furca et fossa ; libere, quiete, plenarie, et honori-
fice, per servitium unius militis. Testibus D. Davide fratre meo, comite
Dunecano justiciario, Ricardo de Morvill constabulario, Waltero Olefer
justiciario, Alano dapifero, Waltero de Bercly camerario, Willielmo de Lind.,
Ricardo de Humphraville, Joanne de London ; Apud Striviling."

Some of the barbarously Latinized words used in this char-
ter are derived from the Saxon, and are common terms of
feudal law. They should be explained. Sacca et socca sig-
nify the full right of holding court and administering justice
in one's own lordship or barony; tholl et them, the privilege
of holding a market and exercising jurisdiction over villeins
attending it; infangthief, the right of summary judgment on

121 1] ALEXANDER AND BERTRAM DE SETON. 25

thieves taken in the seigniory of the lord; furca et fossa, exe-
cution by gibbet and pit, male criminals being hung, and
females drowned in a well or pit filled with water. *

V. Alexander (1) de Setoun succeeded his father Philip,
who died in 1179. He married Jean, daughter of Walter
Berkeley or Barclay, the same who had witnessed his father's
charter — chamberlain to the king — an office of great influence
and dignity. He subscribed a charter given by Secher de
Quincy, Earl of Winchester, in England, his kinsman, to
the Church of Saint Mary of Newbattle in the thirteenth cen-
tury, which is interesting because it contains the earliest men-
tion of coal-mining in Scotland, an industry since so largely
developed in the Lothians. The monks were the pioneers in
this, as in many other discoveries and improvements of benefit
to mankind. The use of coal, long unknown in Italy, is
mentioned as something wonderful by iEneas Sylvius, after-
ward Pope Pius II., who visited Scotland in the fifteenth cen-
tury. He says in his Commentaries: "A sulphurous stone
dug from the earth is used by the people for fuel." Sir
Alexander died in 121 1.

VI. Bertrand or Bertram de Setoun succeeded to Alexan-
der, his father, and married Margaret, daughter of William
Comyn, Earl of Buchan, Great Justiciar of Scotland. Rob-
ert de Commines, whose patronymic became corrupted, like
so many other grand old Norman names, and was finally
turned into Comyn, Cumin, ?nd Gumming, received the Earl-
dom of Northumberland from William the Conqueror in
1068, and was the founder of a family at once unfortunate and
renowned in Scottish history ; for, while having great posses-
sions in England, it forfeited lands and title and fell from its
high estate in Scotland. Buchan was one of the old Celtic
maormordoms, made earldoms at a later and more civilized

period, and was, early in the thirteenth century, brought into

* See Ducange, Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediae et Iufimae Latinitatis .

26 AN OLD FA MILT. [a.d.

this family by an heiress, Marjory, only child of Fergus.
After passing successively to several branches of the royal
Stewarts, and by heiresses into the families of Douglas and
Erskine, it is now held by the last — Earl of Buchan and Lord
Cardross — who carries in his shield the feudal arms of the
earldom ; but, as we shall see later on, when we come to
the Heraldry of the Setons, the same were used with far more
reason by the Earls of Winton, and are still borne as " arms
of pretence " by the Earls of Winton of the second creation,
who are also Earls of Eglinton. The only family in which
the name as well as the arms continue, is Gordon-Cumming
of Altyre, Bart. The present Lady Gordon-Cumming is an
American.

Bertrand received from his kinsman Patrick de Dunbar,
Earl of March, a grant of the lands of Ruchlaw, which was
confirmed by the king at Stirling on February 22, 11 72.
He died about 1230, leaving two sons: Adam, of whom
below, and Alexander, who witnessed the confirmation of a
charter to the burgh of Glasgow by King Alexander II.,
dated November 22, 1225. He is probably the same who,
as witness to another and later charter, is styled u Dominus
Alexander de Settone, Miles."

VII. Adam de Setoune. He succeeded his father Ber-
tram, and is described by Maitland as " ane maister clerk";
*'.<?., a well-read man. In that age, when war and the chase
occupied almost all the time of nobles, it was an exception,
and reckoned a great accomplishment for one of them to be a
scholar; and when this happened, the family chronicles always
mention it as something to be proud of. We know that King
Henry I. of England was surnamed " Beauclerk ' for this
reason. A charter is extant of Roger de Quincy, Earl of
Winchester, " Adamo de Seton," in 1246, anent the mar-
riage of the heiress of Alan de Fausyde — de maritagio haeredis
Alani de Faslde — which is quoted by Sir Robert Sibbald in his

I 172-1246] SIR CHRISTOPHER SETON I. 27

History of Fife. Adam de Setoune married Margaret Gifford,
daughter to Hugh de Gifford, Lord Yester, a neighboring
baron, sprung from an ancient and famous Anglo-Norman
family whose title and estate now belong to the Marquess of
Tweeddale, his descendant, through the marriage of Sir
Thomas Hay of Locherwort with Johanna, eldest daughter
and co-heir of Sir Hugh Gifford of Yester. The original
" Goblin Hall," described in Marmion, is still a part of this
old, ivy-clad castle, now in ruins and but a few miles from
Seton. Adam died in the reign of King Alexander III.
(1249— 1292), but the year is not known. He left, besides a
son and successor, a daughter, who married Sir William de
Keith, ancestor of the great family of the Keiths, Earls Mari-
schal of Scotland. This lady, " who was," says Chalmers
in his Caledonia, "of a gallant race, seems to have infused a
new spirit into the Keiths." Her husband died before 1290.
By him she had three sons, one of whom, Philip, was a priest
and rector of Biggar, in Lanarkshire.

VIII. Sir Chrystell or Christopher de Seton (i).
He succeeded his father Adam, and married Maud, daughter
of Ingelram Percy, Lord Topcliff in Yorkshire. The illus-
trious family of Percy derived its descent from one of the
Norman chieftains (William de Percy) who accompanied the
Conqueror to England in 1066. The line of Percy is traced
back in Normandy to the time of Rollo, first duke, in 912.
Alexander Sinclair, in his Remarks on the Far Descended and
Renowned Title of Lord Percy, tells us that: "Topcliff, in
Yorkshire, came into the family at the Conquest. " Sir Chris-
topher was a very pious man, " more given to devotion than
to worldliness, " says Maitland ; and another family chronicler
tells us that he was a man who loved neither strife nor wrong,
but rather to read and to pray. He was a considerable bene-
factor of the Church, particularly out of the estates in Eng-
land, which he administered during his father's lifetime. His

28 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1245

brother settled also in that part of England in which many
Scoto-Normans (originally Anglo-Normans) were large land-
owners, and is described as u Sir John Seton of Seton, in
Yorkshire." Dugdale mentions in those northeastern parts
of England an Ivo de Seton and a " Capella de Seton," and
the villa et territorium de Seton. Camden {Britannia) names
Seton, in Northumberland, as part of the barony of De-la- Vail
in the thirteenth century; and "Seton Delavell," as also
" Monk-Seton, " is plainly marked in the superb collection
of maps in the Theatrum Or bis Terr arum of William and John
Blaeu, published at Amsterdam in 1648. These names of
places are noiv mostly written Seaton, but it was not so for-
merly; and the old feudal barons Delaval — u of the Vale " —
were originally Setons-Delaval and an early offshoot of our
ancient family. It was probably from one of Chrystell de
Seton' s donations that Pope Innocent IV. confirmed (as in
Dugdale's Monasticon) at Lyons, in 1245, to tne Pri°r of the
Monastery of Saint James of Wartry Grangiam de Seton cum
terris, pratis, pascuis^ nemoribus, piscariis, et omnibus pertinentiis
suis. He died in old age, before 1270:

" The knight's bones are dust,
And his good sword rust ;
His soul is with the Saints, I trust."

IX. Sir Christopher Seton (2). Sir Christopher Seton
succeeded his pious father, and married Agnes, daughter of
Patrick, Earl of March. He was a valiant knight, and did
many brave deeds against the English when the crown of
Scotland was in dispute between Bruce and Balliol. He was
a friend and companion of the national hero, Sir William
Wallace, and when driven off" his own lands by the enemy,
took refuge with forty followers in Jedburgh Forest, " ay
awating his tyme contrare the Englishmen," says Maitland.
He was finally killed at the battle of Dillicarew, on the 12th
of June, 1298, leaving two sons, Christopher and John.

IJOl]

SIR CHRISTOPHER SETON III.

X. Sir Christopher Seton (3). Sir Christopher Seton
III. succeeded his unfortunate but gallant father in these
troublous times of the War of Independence. He was knighted
by King Robert Bruce, and for his courtesy and valor was
called by the common people, with whom he
was a favorite, Good Sir ChrystelL He is
mentioned by Lord Hailes (Annals, II., 2) as
one of the twenty " chief associates of Bruce
in his arduous attempts to restore the liberties
of Scotland." He is there styled Christopher
Seton of Seton ; for with the more perfect
amalgamation of races in that kingdom, and
the consequent decline of Norman influence
with the Norman language, the French de —
the particule nobihare of feudal possession —
fell into disuse, and a new mode of appella-
tion arose. When a family and the estate
bore the same name, and, as was usually the
case, the place gave its name to the owner,
the Scottish manner of expression is of that
ilk; as, for instance, " Fawside of that Ilk,"
/".*., of that same place; but when the estate,
on the contrary, derived its name from the
surname of the owner — a more unusual case
— the Scottish manner was to use both names
together, as " Seton of Seton." This was
more distinguished; and Lord Hailes, as
above, shows his perfect acquaintance with
these little points of Scotch etiquette and
pride. In 1301, when Sir Christopher was
twenty-three years old, he married Lady
Christian Bruce, sister of the heroic Robert. She was the
daughter of Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, and of Margaret,
heiress of Niel, Earl of Carrick. At the disastrous battle of

SIR CHRISTOPHER

seton's TWO-
HANDED SWORD.

3°

AN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d. 1306

Methven, near Perth, on June 19, 1306, soon after Bruce' s
coronation, the Scottish chiefs were defeated by Aylmer de Val-
ence, Earl of Pembroke, and u the king was thrice unhorsed,
and once so nearly taken, that the captor, Sir Philip De
Mowbray, called aloud that he had the new-made king, when
Sir Christopher Seton felled Mowbray to the earth and rescued
his master." * The large two-handed sword, wielded on this
occasion by our common ancestor, is now in the possession
of George Seton, Esq., of Edinburgh, Representative of the

RUINS OF LOCH DOON CASTLE, AYRSHIRE.

Setons of Cariston. It has been several times engraved and
publicly exhibited. After many and notable acts against the
English, Chrystell was taken prisoner at last, in the Castle
of Loch Doon, near Dalmellington, in Ayrshire, through the
treachery of one of his retainers named MacNab. Barbour
says, in his antiquated style of English :

And worthy Christoll of Seytoun
In to London betresyt was
Throw a discipill of Judas,
Maknab, a fals tratour that ay
Was off his duelling nycht and day.

— The Br lice.

This account is confirmed by a tradition current in the
neighborhood of Loch Doon that a portion of land, at the

* Tytler : History, I., 207.

A.D. 1323] EXECUTION OF SIR CHRISTOPHER III. ^3

lower end of the lake, which is still known by the name of
Macnabston, was given to the traitor as the price of his crime.
(Paterson, Ayrshire, III., 9.) The ruins of the ancient Castle
of Loch Doon are on a rocky islet, at the head of the lake
whose waters, still famous for fish, are embosomed in hills
that are now bare and bleak, but were once covered with
primeval trees forming part of the Forest of Buchan. Sir
Christopher was immediately conveyed to London to be ex-
hibited to the king, and then brought back to Dumfries and
executed there, because he had been present and consenting (?)
to Bruce's killing of the Red Comyn in a sudden quarrel in
the Greyfriars' Church in that town on Februarv 10, 1305.
In a quaint Life of Robert Bruce, published in the earlv part
of the eighteenth century, our own Sir Christopher is thus
enshrined in verse :

" The noble Seton, ever dear to Fame,
A god-like Patriot, and a spotless Name,
By factious Treason in Lochdown betrayed,
And to Augusta's hostile towers conveyed ;
For Scotia's sake resigned his gallant Breath,
Great in his Life, and glorious in his Death."

The historian Tytler says: " So dear to King Robert was
the memory of his faithful friend and fellow warrior, that he
afterwards erected on the spot where he was executed a little
chapel, where mass was said for his soul." The widow of
Sir Christopher was reallv the one who built this chapel for her
husband, in honor of the Holy Cross; but her royal brother
so generously endowed it by a charter dated at Berwick-on-
Tweed, the last day of November, 1323, that he is sometimes
called the founder. This memorial chapel stood on a natural
eminence just outside of the town walls, which was ever after
called " Chrystell's Mount," and, by corruption, u Kerstie's
Mount." It was a beautiful little Gothic building of oblong
shape, cornered bv pointed buttresses, and having a richly
decorated oriel window. It was further endowed with a small

34 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

portion of the surrounding land. Sir Richard Maitland, our
earliest family historian, who lived before the downfall of
the Old Religion in Scotland, tells us that he had sundry
times held in his hand and read the king's charter endowing
the chapel, that he had heard mass there, and that it was
standing whole and entire in the year 1552. The chapel
was closed after the establishment of the New Religion in
Scotland, and its endowments were secularized. It remained
standing for nearly two centuries, a forlorn protest against the
spoliation, until it was torn down in a panic by the towns-
people in 1 7 15, to build a wall and rampart against an ex-
pected attack of the Jacobite insurgents. A Presbyterian
church was raised in 1838 on what is still called " The
Chrvstal Mount"; and when the excavations were being
made, traces of the foundation of the chapel were discovered,
and " many of the stones, but all without ornaments, are still
to be discerned in the neighboring dykes." A few of these
were collected and set up, with a well-meaning but inelegant
inscription, within his private burial ground by the late Major
James Adair in 1840. Sir Christopher's widow was con-
fined for a time in a nunnery in England, but was liberated
in a few years, and died in peace. About the same time that
all this happened, Sir John Seton, Christopher's brother, was
executed at Newcastle. Burton, writing in his History of
Scotland (II., 245) of the many and cruel executions among
the Norman nobilitv, observes that " these are the acts that
break the spirit of servile races, but only nerve those of higher
mettle to defiance." Even the plain people were shocked at
the shedding of so much noble blood, and regretted the death
of their leaders, although of an alien race:

Where's Nigel Bruce, and I)e la Have,
And valiant Seton — where are they?
AYhere Somerville, the kind and free ?
And Fraser, flower of chivalry ?

— Scott : Lord of the Isles.

1302-1318] VICTORY OF BANNOCKBURN. 35

The large hereditary estates of the family in England were
now confiscated. The manor of Seton at Whitby Strand, in
Yorkshire, was conferred upon Edmund de Manley, a very
eminent person in the reigns of Edward I. and II., and dis-
tinguished in the Scottish wars. He subsequently fell at Ban-
nockburn. The more extensive domain in Northumberland
was granted to William, Lord Latimer. He also came to
grief, being made prisoner at Bannockburn.

XL Sir Alexander Seton of Seton (2). He succeeded
his good father, and was knighted by King Robert Bruce.
He was employed both in civil and in military affairs, for in
January, 1302, he had a safe conduct into England, and three
years later the Scottish king applied for another one for him
to treat of a peace with the English. In 1306 there was a
mutual indenture made between Sir Gilbert Hay of Erroll,
Sir Niel Campbell of Lochaw, and Sir Alexander Seton of
Seton, knights, at the Abbey of Lindores, to defend King
Robert Bruce and his crown to the last of their blood and for-
tune. " Upon sealing the said indenture they solemnly took
the Sacrament at Saint Mary's altar in the said abbey church '
(Balfour, Annals). " Seton," says Alexander Laing {History
of Lindores Abbey ^ p. 93), " came of a race that fought bravely
and suffered much for the independence of Scotland."

On the 9th of September, 1308, he again bound himself in
the most public manner, in the same company, on the high
altar of the Abbey Church of Cambuskenneth, near Stirling,
" to defend till the last period of their lives the liberties of
their country and right of Robert Bruce, their king, against
all mortals, French, English, and Scots." * Sir Alexander
Seton shared in the glorious victory of Bannockburn, June 24,
1 3 14. Sir Thomas Gray, on the testimony of his father,
who was then a prisoner in the Scotch camp, tells us that Sir
Alexander Seton rode to Bruce' s tent in the wood the even-

* Collins's Peerage, VII., 419.

36 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

ing before the battle with important information, and advised
him to take the offensive, and attack the English next morn-
ing with vigor. A rare and curious little book, an English
poem on King Robert, by Patrick Gordon, first published at
Dort, in Holland, in 1615, and reprinted at Edinburgh in
1 7 18, in describing the gathering of the Scottish hosts from
every quarter of the kingdom for the crowning effort of Ban-
nockburn, exclaims :

Three thousand more came forth of Lothian fair,
All Princes, Lords, and Knights, and men of Fame,

Where Seton's Lord, e'en Winton's Earl, did bear
Not meanest Rule, with others of great Name.

— Ch. XV., 172.

Sir Alexander got from his royal uncle important grants of
land for services rendered by his father, and also certain hon-
orable and uncommon additions to his paternal coat-of-arms.
A little later he received another grant — this time of the
Barony of Barnes, in East Lothian, for his own services, par-
ticularly in Ireland, whither he had accompanied the king's
brother, Edward Bruce. The appeal of the Irish chieftains
for deliverance from their English conquerors, the Scottish
expedition to Ireland, the crowning of Edward Bruce as King
of Ireland (13 16), his victorious march at the head of a small
army of Scotchmen, with very little native assistance, from
Carrickfergus to Limerick, his unsuccessful siege of Dublin,
his retreat northward, and his final defeat and death with nearly
all his followers at the battle of Dundalk, on October 5, 13 18,
is one of the most chivalrous episodes, as it was one of the
most ill-advised measures, in the history of Scotland.

The best of these grants was that of Tranent, on the high-
road between Edinburgh and Berwick-on-Tweed, because it
was one of the oldest towns in East Lothian. It remained
for four hundred years in the family and gave it a secon-
dary title — Lord Tranent — which even now figures among

I 165] THE SETONS GET TRANENT. 37

those of the Earl of Eglinton and Winton. There were
many barons attached to the English Court who had pos-
sessed vast estates in Scotland, a state of affairs causing oscil-
lations in allegiance sadly calamitous to the weaker king-
dom ; but Scottish independence being now an assured fact,

SEAL OF ROGER DE QUINCY, I25O.
Showing Dragon-crest which passed to the Setons.

there was, fortunately, at the crown's disposal the property
of these disinherited barons to equalize things in some mea-
sure, and compensate loyal Scots for the losses of their own
English estates. Robert de Ouincy, a Northamptonshire
baron, acquired Tranent in 1165 from William the Lion.
His oldest son, Savher, Lord of Tranent, was created Earl of
Winchester in England, and set out, in 1218, with other
English knights for the Crusade. He died at the siege of

38 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1320

Damietta, in Egypt. His brother, Roger de Quincy, suc-
ceeded him, and left at his death, in 1264, three daughters,
co-heiresses, each of whom received some portion of the great
Tranent estate. These ladies were closely related to John
Balliol, and the husbands of two of them were Englishmen :
Sir Alan de la Zouche and William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby.
The other sister was married to Alexander Comyn, Earl of
Buchan. Their husbands sided with England in the contest
for the crown; and when it was finally decided in favor of
Bruce, their property in Scotland was given to his nephew
and companion-in-arms, whose family had for several gener-
ations possessed the neighboring lands of Seton and Winton,
while he himself was of the blood of the de Quincys. Sir
Alexander Seton was one of the thirty-nine nobles and others
who assembled in Parliament at the Abbey of Arbroath on
April 6, 1320, and addressed that famous letter to Pope John
XXII. at Avignon, which is one of the most spirited and patri-
otic documents in history. It induced the Holy See to recog-
nize the independence of Scotland and the title of King Robert
Bruce. The following passage will give some idea of the en-
ergy and determination of the signers : " It is not glorv, it is
not riches, neither is it honor; but it is liberty alone that
we fight and contend for, which no honest man will lose but
with his life." As Burton says, much of the power and
terseness of this memorable manifesto is lost in translating
from the Latin. Sir Alexander was a benefactor of the mon-
astery at Haddington, and looked only to pass his remaining
years in piety and repose ; but the peace of the kingdom was
violently broken by the attempt of Edward Balliol to seize
the crown after the death of Bruce, and during the minority
of his son David II. Balliol and his partv came bv sea and
made a sudden landing at Wester Kinghorn, on the coast of
Fife, in August, 1332. The Scottish army, feeblv com-
manded, kept at a distance; but " Sir Alexander Seton threw

A.D. 1337] FOR SCOTLAND'S RIGHT. 41

himself with a handful of soldiers upon the English, and was
instantly overpowered and cut to pieces" (Tvtler, Hist, of
Scot., II., 10), vet not, says Maitland, until he had hurt and
slain divers of the enemy. This perfect knight continued the
succession of fortunate marriages by which his House had been
consolidated, and which was to become a sort of tradition
among his descendants ; for there is not, up to the eigh-
teenth century, another family in Scotland which made so
many advantageous marriages and gave so many younger sons
to heiresses. He married Isabel, daughter of Duncan, tenth
Earl of Fife. Her origin was from the ancient Thanes or
Maormors, whose line ended in the middle of the fourteenth
century, when the title reverted to the crown, and was con-
ferred on Robert Stuart, Earl of Menteith and Duke of Albany,
younger son of King Robert II. The wealthy Duffs — late
Earls, now Dukes of Fife — are comparatively modern people,
having no connection of blood or descent with Sir Alexander's
wife.

XII. Sir Alexander Seton (3). He succeeded to Sir
Alexander II., his father, and was truly a noble knight and
renowned in Scottish prose and verse. He was made captain
and keeper of Berwick in April, 1333, bringing, as his con-
tribution to the defence of this important town, one hundred
men-at-arms and five gallant sons. Berwick was closely be-
sieged and blockaded by Edward III., but made a stout re-
sistance. In one of the sorties William Seton advanced so
impetuously that he was taken prisoner by the enemy ; and
another time, in a boat-attack at night on the English ships,
an illegitimate son of the governor, name unknown, but
described by Maitland as " a young and valiant man," was
drowned through falling short in a leap he made from one ves-
sel to another. Soon afterward Thomas Seton, a comely and
noble-looking youth, eldest son and heir of the governor, was
delivered a hostage to the king for the faithful carrying out of

42 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

an agreement to surrender the city unless relief arrived before
a certain day. This was in July; but a misunderstanding hav-
ing arisen, King Edward, who conducted the siege in person,
put both the governor's sons to death in a public manner and
in a conspicuous place, hoping to influence the governor to
save his children by agreeing to the English terms of surren-
der. Sir Alexander was unmoved by any such appeal, and
Scotch poets and historians have invested this episode with a
tragic interest. His wife was Christian Cheyne of Straloch.
She belonged to a Norman-Scotch family, longed settled in
Aberdeenshire, and which had come into England at the Con-
quest, in the person of Ralph de Caineto, one of whose de-
scendants was created Baron Cheyne, in the English peerage,
in 1487, and another Viscount of Newhaven, in the Scottish
peerage, in 1681. The Cheynes, singular as it may appear
now that they are so utterly forgotten, were once a very emi-
nent family. They were heritable Sheriffs of Banff". Sir
Reginald Cheyne of Inverugie founded the Carmelite Monas-
tery in Aberdeen, bestowing large revenues on it. By his
wife, a daughter of Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, he had two
sons : Sir Reginald Cheyne, Lord Chamberlain of Scotland in
1267, and Henry Cheyne, Bishop of Aberdeen, who sided
with his uncle's party, and was obliged to take refuge in Eng-
land. The chief seat of the family was Inverugie Castle,
now in ruins, but remarkable as containing the oldest icehouse
in Scotland. Straloch was an estate of the Cheynes in what is
now New Machar Parish, district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire.
The last mention that I can find of this ancient and once
powerful family is in Bellesheim's History of the Catholic
Church of Scotland, III., 388, who writes that: " As early as
1576 Dr. James Chevne, formerly parish priest of Aboyne,
and afterward canon of Tournai and professor of theology at
Douai, founded at Tournai a small seminary for his countrv-
men." He was of ^ood stock and brother to the Laird of

1337]

SIR ALEXANDER SETON.

Arnage, in Buchan. Sir Alexander Seton was one of the
witnesses with the Bishop of Saint Andrew's, the Abbot of
Lindores, and others, on June

27> ^S1

to a charter of

||-

Sir John Dundemore — now
Dunmore — conveying in free
gift to the monks of Bal-
merino the right to the water
running through his land of
Dunderauch for the use of
their mill at Pitgornoch. The
bestowal of this gift was ap-
parently made by the hos-
pitable Fathers occasion of a
festive gathering at Dun-
more, at which most of the
guests were men " who had
borne their part in the great
struggle for Independence."
Sir Alexander had a safe con-
duct to pass into England in
October, 1337. His curious
old dagger, with a silver-
mounted handle capped by a
crescent, which, besides indi-
cating ownership, formed a
rest for the thumb in giving
a thrust, is now in the pos-
session of his descendant,
William Seton of New York.
He died at a good age, and
was buried in his parish
church of Seton, leaving two sons : Alexander, who suc-
ceeded him, and John, founder of the line of Parbroath.

SIR ALEXANDER SETON's DAGGER.

44 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

XIII. Sir Alexander Seton, Knight (4). He suc-
ceeded to his patrimonial estate, yet lived to enjoy it only a
few years. He was the third, but eldest surviving son of the
late Governor of Berwick. Maitland says that he was a wise
and virtuous man; and after living honorably, died in peace
and was buried in his family vault in the parish church of
Seton. He married Margaret, sister to Sir William Murray,
Captain of Edinburgh Castle, by whom he left an only child,
a daughter, named, for her mother, Margaret ; so that in him
the direct male line of the family came, partially at least, to
an end. Taylor says {Great Historic Families of Scotland, I.,
128) that Sir Alexander u sought refuge from his sorrows and
troubles in a hospital of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem,
and his daughter Margaret became the heiress of his extensive
estates." It was, no doubt, in that age the most poignant
domestic grief for a knight of large landed interest and of
long descent to have no sons and to be left with one whom,
however good and beautiful, he would love —

" As heiress and not heir regretfully."

XIV. Margaret, Heiress of Seton. Lady Margaret
Seton was forcibly abducted in the year 1347 by a neighbor-
ing baron named Alan de Winton, a distant kinsman of her
own and a cadet of the Seton family. Andrew Wyntoun
relates the case in his Orygynale Crony kil of Scotland, saying :
" Dat yhere Alene de Wyntoun tuk the yhoung Lady Setoun
and weddit hyr than till hys wyf. " This outrage caused a
bloody contest in Lothian ; on which occasion, says Fordun,
a hundred ploughs were laid aside from labor. In a ballad
entitled " Alan of Winton and the Heiress of Seton," we
find some good verses, and in one of the stanzas an allusion
to the family Crest :

" One hundred ploughs unharnessed lie,
The dusky collier leaves his mines.
A Seton ! is the gathering cry,
And far the fiery Dragon shines."

1340-1380] THE HEIRESS OF SETON. 45

A romantic incident of this affair — the opposition springing,
perhaps, from selfish motives on the part of her guardian
— is that when Margaret was rescued and Alan confronted
with the Seton family, she was handed a ring and a dagger,
with permission to give him either Love or Death. She gave
him the ring, and they were happy ever afterward.

The earliest notice of Wrychtshouses, near Edinburgh, which
passed later to the famous Napiers, occurs in a charter dated
June 25, 1383, where it is seen that it belonged up to that
time to Henry de Wynton, who then resigned it. One of
the oldest stones of this mansion bears the Seton arms, and it
is supposed that Henry was a younger son of this marriage.
He was one of the heroes of Otterburn, August 19, 1388.
Froissart calls him "The Seigneur de Venton " (Wintoun,
Francisque Michel).

Alan de Winton assumed his wife's name, and died in the
Holy Land, leaving, besides a daughter Christian, who be-
came Countess of Dunbar and March, two sons : Sir William
Seton, his successor, and Henry, who retained his father's
name and inherited Wrychtshouses. He married Amy Brown
of Coalston, in whose ancient family, now merged into that
of Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie, was the " Coalston Pear," to
which such a singular legend has been attached since about
the year 1260 :

" In an account of the Seton family compiled by Alexander Nisbet, the
well-known writer on Heraldry, a fifth Sir Alexander Seton is set down, and
it is stated that he ' married Jean, daughter to Sir Thomas Halyburton of
Dirleton ' ; but he may have been only a collateral of certain but undeter-
mined degree of kinship. Nisbet saw the Seton and Halyburton arms
impaled as baron and femme on an ' old genealogical tree ' in the posses-
sion of the Earl of Winton, at Seton House."

CHAPTER III.

A. D. I383-I585.

XV. Sir William Seton of Seton, First Lord Seton.
He was a famous knight in the middle of the fourteenth cen-
tury, and visited Jerusalem. On his return he took part, in
1383, with the Borderers of Scotland, in that raid into Eng-
land described so graphically by Froissart (who names him),
" for they said there had been such damage done to their
lands as was disagreeable to themselves and friends, which
they would revenge the very first opportunity." They came
back with a rich booty in prisoners and cattle. Froissart
mentions in the same year a Sir John Seton, who took part
with the English in the counter-raid into Scotland. He must
have been one of the Yorkshire Setons. Those were days of
murderous and almost constant fighting between the Scotch
and English; and one of the battles is forever celebrated in
poetry and romance. The battle of Otterburn, which fur-
nished material for the ballad of Chevy Chase, was fought on
the 19th of August, 1388, and Sir William Seton was there.
Froissart' s calling him " le seigneur de Seton" confirms the
testimony of Maitland that he was created a Lord of Parlia-
ment, as we shall presently see. Johnes's translation and
edition of the Chronicles, which is now most commonly used
— that of Lord Berners, although the classical one, being too
antiquated in language and style — has a gross error in the
account of this affair. He says il the lord Saltoun," instead
of " Seton," which shows his ignorance of Scotch names and
history. There was no " Lord Saltoun " at this date. Law-
rence Abernethy of Saltoun was created a peer by the title of

A GALLANT FEAT OF ARMS. 47

Lord Saltoun in 1445, nearly sixty years after the battle; and
in 1669 the peerage devolved through female descent from
the seventh lord, upon Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth, who
succeeded as heir of line and became tenth lord. There was,
indeed, a knight of the great family of Fraser in this chivalrous
encounter, and his name is properly given by Johnes as " Sir
Alexander Frazer " ; in the original Cbroniques it is u messire
Alexandre Fresiel." Froissart mentions "Sir John Assue-
ton," * Sir John of Seton, as the name is given in the Armorial
de Gelre, where it is attached to the arms, and is written
" Luert a Seton. " (See note to Johnes, Vol. I., p. 448.) He
was one of the hundred Scots lances who, during the truce of
nine years between the two kingdoms, went with Sir Robert
Knolles to Picardy and Vermandois. u There was a Scots
knight in the English army who performed a most gallant deed
of arms. He quitted his troop with his lance in rest, and
mounted on his courser, followed only by his page ; when, stick-
ing spurs into his horse, he was soon up the mountain and at
the barriers. The name of this knight was Sir John Assueton,
a very valiant and able man, perfectly master of his profes-
sion. When he was arrived at the barriers of Noyon, he dis-
mounted, and giving his horse to his page, said, ' Quit not
this place ' : then, grasping his spear, he advanced to the bar-
riers, and leaped over them. There were on the inside some
good knights of that country, such as Sir John de Roye, Sir
Launcelot de Lorris, and ten or twelve others, who were
astonished at this action, and wondered what he would do
next; however, they received him well. The Scots knight,
addressing them, said: ' Gentlemen, I am come to see you;
for as you do not vouchsafe to come out beyond your bar-
riers, I condescend to visit you. I wish to try my knight-

* This is a copyist's mistake for Sir John A Seton — the de being some-
times gallo-latinized into A. We shall see a case later on (p. 144) of Robert
A Bruce instead of Robert de Bruce.

48 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

hood against yours, and you will conquer me if you can.'
After this he gave many grand strokes with his lance, which
they returned him. He continued in this situation alone
against them all, skirmishing and fighting most gallantly up-
wards of an hour. He wounded one or two of their knights,
and they had so much pleasure in this combat they frequently
forgot themselves. The inhabitants looked from above the
gates and top of the walls with wonder. They might have
done him much hurt with their arrows if they had so willed;
but no, the French knights had forbidden it. Whilst he was
thus engaged, his page came close to the barriers, mounted
on his courser, and said to him aloud, in his own language,
' My lord, you had better come away : it is time, for our army
is on its march.' The knight, who had heard him, made
ready to follow his advice, and after he had given two or three
thrusts to clear the way, he seized his spear, and leaped again
over the barrier without any hurt, and, armed as he was,
jumped up behind the page on his courser. When he was
thus mounted, he said to the French, ' Adieu, gentlemen.
Many thanks to you ! ' and spurring his steed soon rejoined
his companions. This gallant feat of Sir John Assueton
was highly prized bv all manner of persons." *

Froissart, during the fifteen days he spent at Dalkeith, the
residence of Earl Douglas, rode around with him to visit the
neighboring barons, Ramsay of Dalhousie, Sinclair of Rosslyn,
and Seton of Seton, who all figure in the Chronicles.

Maitland informs us that Sir William Seton " was the first
created and made lord in the parliament, and he and his pos-
terity to have a vote therein, and be called Lords." Several
of his ancestors sat in Parliament; and to understand Sir
Richard one must remember that for two centuries after the
introduction of Feudal Law into Scotland the only baronies

* Geoffrey de Seton took part in the famous tournament of Saint-Inglevert,
in March, 1390. Froissart calls him " ung gentil chevallier et bien joustant."

1393] PEERAGE FAMILIES. 49

known were incident to the tenure of land held immediately
from the Crown, and every tenant in chief by knight's ser-
vice was an honorary or parliamentary baron by reason of
his tenure, but yet did not always receive a Writ of Sum-
mons to attend. With the gradual decay of Feudalism and
the concentration of power in the Crown, certain rules of
procedure became established by legislative enactment wTith
the royal assent ; and the higher order of the Nobility was dis-
tinguished from the lower one, by having conferred upon its
members an hereditary right to be summoned and to sit and
vote irrespective of feudal tenure or even of the possession of
any land at all. They then formed a separate chamber in
Parliament, which constituted the Peerage, or House of Lords.
Thus certain baronial families became by favor of the sover-
eign or other accidental circumstance peerage families, while
many others of an origin equally good never attained to the
peerage, although their ancestors sat in what were then, as
now, called parliaments ; and their descendants are only Com-
moners. Hence the absurdity of speaking of an ancient and
feudal family as having been ennobled, when the proper expres-
sion would be " raised to the peerage." In a manuscript of
the British Museum, Sir William Seton is stvled " Wilhelmus
primus Dns. Seton," and several other documents confirm
the title to him. His descendant refused an earldom in the
sixteenth century, because he preferred the distinction of
being the Premier Baron of Scotland. The precise date of
the creation is unknown, but it is reasonably presumed to
have been some time before 1393. Lord Seton married
Catharine, daughter of Sir William St. Clair of Herdmans-
ton, a great house at that time. By her he had two sons and
six daughters. The eldest son, John, succeeded his father,
while the second son, Alexander, married, in 1408, Eliza-
beth, daughter and heiress of Sir Adam Gordon bv his wife
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Keith, and founded a fam-
4

50 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

ily of Seton blood which rose to fame and importance and the
highest ranks of the peerage. The Gordons were originally
from Normandy, and the founder of the Scottish branch came
into Scotland in the twelfth century , during the reign of King
David I., from whom he received a grant of the lands of
Gordon in the Merse of Berwickshire. Two centuries later
Sir John de Gordon got from King Robert II. a charter of the
domain of Strathbogie in the North, and henceforth the Gor-
dons were a great and soon became a typical Highland family.
Gordon is a local or topographical name, and is said by Sims *
to be derived from Gour and Dun, meaning a ' c round hill."
In my opinion the name is more likely to come from the
Anglo-Saxon Gore and Dun, and commemorates a bloody bat-
tle for possession of the hill on which a fort or camp probably
stood at some time in the remote past. All hills are round in
that part of Scotland ; and combative man in the earlier stages
of development generally preferred to give a battle-name rather
than a merely descriptive one derived from a natural and not
uncommon formation of land on which he dwelt and for
which his forefathers had fought. Alexander Seton was
created a Lord of Parliament as Lord Gordon about 1437.
His son, Alexander Seton, Lord Gordon, assumed his
mother's surname, and was created Earl of Huntly. While
some of the descendants of this marriage took the name of
Gordon, others retained that of Seton. The Marquess of
Huntlv (Premier Marquess of Scotland) is descended from him
in the male, and the Duke of Richmond and Gordon in the
female line. The daughters of William and Catharine all
married well. Margaret — John, Lord Kennedy; Marion —
Sir John Ogilvy of Lintrathen; Jean — John, Lord Lyle ;
Catharine — Bernard Haldane of Gleneagles; Anna — Hamil-
ton of Preston ; Lucy — Lauder of Poppill. All these were
men of old family and of personal distinction.

* Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames.

i457-I44i] JOHN, SECOND LORD SETON. 51

Haldane is a rare name and now but seldom heard, yet the
Haldanes were barons of considerable consequence in Perth-
shire as early as 1296. The Earl of Camperdown (Haldane-
Duncan), a descendant in the female line, owns the old
estate of Gleneagles ; but the heir male and representative of
the family is the Rt. Rev. James Robert Alexander Chinnery-
Haldane, Protestant Bishop of Argyll and The Isles.

Lord Seton belonged to the third Order of Saint Francis,
and dying in February, 1409, was buried in the Church of
the Franciscan Friars in Haddington, to whom he left bv will
six loads of coal weekly, out of his coal-pit of Tranent,
and forty shillings annually, to be charged on his estate of
Barnes. His widow is described as a virtuous and energetic
woman, who got husbands for four of her daughters, and
built a chantry on the south side of the parish church of Seton,
prepared a tomb for herself there, and made provision for a
priest to say mass perpetually for the repose of her soul.

XVI. John, Second Lord Seton. He was intended for
the Heiress of Gordon, but secretly wedded Janet Dunbar,
daughter to the Earl of March, much to his father's dis-
pleasure. He had one son by her, who predeceased him, and
three daughters. Lord Seton was appointed Master of the
Household by King James I., and was sent on a mission to
France. He is described as a good fighter and a great hater
of the English — Aides acerrimus et Anglis semper infestus — and
was taken prisoner at the battle of Homildon Hill, in 1402.
He had several safe conducts to England between 1409 and
1421, and died about 1441, when he was buried in his
mother's chantrv at Seton Church. His daughters were dis-
posed of as follows : Christian married Norman Leslie of
Rothes, by papal dispensation from the fourth degree of con-
sanguinity, obtained in December, 1415; Janet married Sir
Robert Keith, son of the Earl Marischal ; Marian married Sir
William Baillie of Laminton, in Lanarkshire, now represented

52 AN OLD FAMILT. [a.d.

by Baillie of Dochfour, County Inverness, and in Ireland
by Baillie of Ringdufferin, County Down.

XVII. William, Master of Seton. The term u Mas-
ter," as applied to the oldest son of barons, is peculiar to
Scotland, where it was used as early as the beginning of the
fifteenth century. It was introduced from France, where
the heir to the throne was styled Monsieur, and is always put
before the family title, not the name, unless the title and
the name are one.

He first appears in a charter which he witnessed in 1423,
where he is described as u William Seton, son and heir of
John, Lord Seton."

In the wars of France there were Scotchmen on both sides.
An Alexander Seton, who cannot now be identified, took forty
lances and forty men-at-arms ; Alexander Forbes took sixty
lances; John St. Clair took thirty lances ; Alexander and Fergus
Kennedy took thirty lances — in all, two hundred fighting men
— to the assistance of King Henry V. in 142 1. The Master
of Seton accompanied the Scotch Auxiliaries to the assistance
of the French, and after sharing in the victory of Bauge was
slain at the bloody battle of Verneuil, August 17, 1424. In
this engagement nearly all the killed on the French side, about
nine thousand, were Scotch, who, led by gentlemen, strove
against odds with the usual courage and tenacity of their race.
"A few years after, a Frenchman who had fought at Verneuil
and subsequently became a hermit, paid a visit to the field of
battle. He caused it to be blessed, erected a chapel, and, for
the honour of the cause he had defended, piously collected
the bones of the victims. In 1462 the States of Dauphine
founded a perpetual service in memory of the event in the
celebrated Abbey of St. Antoine de Viennois. This daily
service was called ' The Mass of Verneuil.' "

By his wife, whose name is unrecorded, William, Master
of Seton, left a son George, who succeeded his grandfather,

1423-1424] SCOTS GUARDS IN FRANCE. 59

and two daughters : Catharine, who married Alan Stuart of
Darnley, and was mother of the first Earl of Lennox ; and
Janet, who married John, second Lord Halyburton.

My reverend friend, Father William Forbes-Leith, S.J.,
published in 1882, in two volumes, The Scots Guards in
France, from which I have collected some matters of family
interest not found elsewhere. As early as the first despatch
of Scotch Auxiliaries to France two Setons, Thomas and his
brother, are found each at the head of a company of men-at-
arms and archers, and were " conspicuous amongst the most
faithful followers of the Dauphin. Thomas was favoured
with the estate of Langeais and appointed to accompany
Charles wherever he went" (I., 13). In a joint communi-
cation from the Earls of Douglas and Buchan to Charles VII. ,
announcing the victory of Bauge (22d March, 142 1), they
recommend him for special reward, saying: u Most high and
mighty Prince, your well-beloved Charles le Bouteiller was
also killed — God rest his soul ! — who in his lifetime was Sen-
eschal of Berry ; and we pray you heartily to bestow the said
office as the said knight would have done had he been alive,
on your servant and cousin Thomas Seton, who has on
this occasion done his duty well" (II., 203). Sir Thomas
Seton was killed a few years later before the fortress of
Cravant. In 1636 we find 'Jean de Seton, Lieutenant de .la
le compagnie appelee la compagnie Ecossaise et commandant les
quatres compagnies en T armee de Picardie ; * and in 1642 Sir
James Seton, lieutenant in the Scots Guards, conveyed the
famous conspirators Cinq-Mars and de Thou to Lvons, and
kept them in the castle of Pierre-Encise until they were be-
headed. At the funeral of Louis XIII. the Scots Guards
accompanied the king's body from Saint Germain to the royal
vault at Saint Denis ; and Lieutenant Seton, in command, suc-
cessfully resisted the claim of others to be pall-bearers, and

* Scots Guards in France, II., 192.

54 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1448

was sustained by the Master of Ceremonies. To conclude
a short digression, Setons are found officers and gentlemen-
privates * in this celebrated corps from 1419 to 1679, the
last of our name on the list and muster-rolls being " David
Seton, Brigadier."

XVIII. George, Third Lord Seton. He succeeded to
the title and estates while still a minor, " being bot nyne yeirs
of age," and was secured as a rich prize by Sir William
Crichton, the powerful but unscrupulous Lord Chancellor,
who then held possession of Edinburgh Castle. After a
while he regained his libertv through the efforts of the Laird
of Johnstone, who seems to have been connected bv marriage
with the Seton family, which accounts for his interest in the
heir. He was well cared for bv this noble and kind-hearted
Borderer in his castle of Lochwood, in Annandale. When
George grew up he accompanied Crichton, who, after all,
could not well have meant him wrong, on an embassy to
France and Burgundy, and had a safe conduct to pass through
England, April 23, 1448.^" He was very tall and handsome,
a good scholar, and an accomplished courtier. He made a
great match, marrying Lady Margaret Stewart, only daughter
and heiress of the gallant John, Earl of Buchan, younger son
of Robert, Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, and grand-
son of King Robert II., of which branch of the royal Stuarts
the Setons are the only Representatives. For his victorv at
Bauge, 22(1 March, 1421, the earl was made Constable of
France. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald,
fourth Earl of Douglas in Scotland, and Duke of Touraine
in France. He was one of the foremost warriors of his

* Father Forbes-Leith, in an " Important Observation on the Muster
Rolls" (II., 209), calls our attention to the fact that " all the men-at-arms
and archers named in the Muster Rolls were, nevertheless, men of rank
and birth."

f Elizabeth, the Chancellor's eldest daughter, was married to Alexander
Seton, Earl of I [untly.

1450] JOHN, MASTER OF SETON. 55

time. The chivalrous spirit and martial achievements of this
family, in which illustrious ancestry, princely possessions, and
historic renown have so long been united, are too well known
to require even a passing mention:

" And Douglasses were heroes every age."

By this marriage Lord Seton had a son called John, of whom
hereafter, and a daughter Christian, who married Hugh Doug-
las of Corehead. He had also an illegitimate son, who was
slain at Flodden, leaving a son called John, who was father
to Thomas, who became a priest. This lord kept a great
house, and was given to entertaining. He restored and em-
bellished the parish church of Seton. " After he had lived a
long and honorable life," says Maitland, he died in the Con-
vent of the Black Friars (Dominicans) at Edinburgh, and
was buried in the choir of their church. He left them, by
will, twenty marks to be paid annually out of his estate of
Hartsyde, in Berwickshire.

XIX. John, Master of Seton. He died ^uring the life-
time of his father, and was buried in the parish church of
Seton. He married Christian, daughter of the first Lord
Lindsay of the Byres, by whom he had three sons and a
daughter, who married the second Lord Lyle. The eldest
son, George, succeeded his grandfather; the next son was
John, who had a son killed by robbers in Annandale while
returning, with too small an escort, from a military expedi-
tion into England ; the youngest son was Alexander, who
had, besides a son called John, Baillie of Tranent, who mar-
ried and had issue, a daughter named Christian, who was
wedded to Preston of Whitehill.

XX. George, Fourth Lord Seton. He succeeded his
grandfather, and exemplified in his person the hereditary love
of learning in his family. Maitland says: u He was much
given to Letters, and was cunning in divers sciences, as in

56 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

astrology, music, and theology. He was so devoted to study
that even after his marriage he went to the University of Saint
Andrew's, and after a while to that of Paris to prosecute his
researches." A nobleman in that age who made physical
experiments and spent money in such things, who travelled
only to become acquainted with learned people, and strove to
increase his knowledge in spheres not affected, but rather dis-
dained by men of rank, was generally suspected of dealing in
the black art, and consequently we are not surprised or
ashamed that, appended to the name of this Lord Seton in
a curious pedigree of Scotch families compiled in 1604, we
find the damning words, Vocatus Necromanticus. Shortly after
his accession to the title he entered (July 3, 1480) into what
was called a Band of Friendship, for mutual support, encour-
agement, and counsel with his neighbor, Sir Oliver St. Clair
of Rosslyn. Between 1484 and 1503 he was engaged in the
public affairs of the kingdom, while at the same time de-
voting considerable attention to his patrimonial estates, with a
fine eye to architecture and to the dignity of Religion. In
this line he built Winton House, and laid out the garden and
park around it; but his more enduring memorial is the Col-
legiate Church of Seton. A Church of Seton, Ecclesia de
Seethun, is mentioned as earlv as 1242, and the Rev. Joseph
Stevenson, S.J., discovered u a presentation of the church
of Seyton, in the year 1296." It must have been a consider-
able church even before it was made collegiate by papal
authority, because a Brief of Pope Paul II., in 1465, which
is preserved among the treasures of the Society of Antiquaries
at Edinburgh, mentions the u Provost of Seton" — Prepositus de
Seton. Schools of elementary instruction were almost alwavs
attached to these old Scottish churches. The learned Belle-
sheim, author of the History of the Catholic Church of Scotland
(translated by Dom Oswald Hunter Blair, O.S.B.), gives
a list of forty collegiate churches in the kingdom, and savs:

1480-1493] COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF SETON. 57

u During the second half of the fourteenth century we first
find recorded the foundation of a collegiate church, a proof
of the influence still exercised by religion on men's hearts.
These collegiate churches were establishments of secondary
importance to the great cathedral and monastic institutions,
and consisted generally of a dean and a certain number of
canons, whose principal duty was the solemn performance of
divine service" (II., 29). There exists in the Advocates'
Library at Edinburgh a Brief of Pope Alexander VI., writ-
ten on vellum, and dated 1492, dans potestatem . . . ad pro-
cedendum in erectione ecclesiae collegiatae de Seton. In conse-
quence Lord Seton, on June 20, 1493, na<^ tne provisions of
the Brief carried out by the ecclesiastical authorities to whom
it had been committed — viz., the Bishops of Candida Casa
(Whithorn) and Dunblane, and the Abbot of Newbattle. It
is one of the only two remaining churches in Scotland that
are roofed with stone. My friend Mr. William Winter
glances at this sacred monument of our name and family in
the following passage from his exquisite Gray Days and Gold :
" On Preston battlefield the golden harvest stood in sheaves,
and the meadows glimmered green in the soft sunshine, while
over them the white clouds drifted and the peaceful rooks
made wing in happy indolence and peace. Soon the ruined
church of Seton came into view, with its singular stunted tower
and its venerable gray walls couched in trees, and around it
the cultivated, many-coloured fields, and the breezy, emerald
pastures stretching away to the verge of the sea. A glimpse,
and it is gone" (p. 323). I here reproduce a short account
I wrote some thirty years ago :

This little church, whose original pile was very ancient, is
situated near the sea-coast of Scotland, about twelve miles
below Edinburgh, and rears itself close to the mansion-house
of the Setons. It enclosed for many centuries their family
tomb, and received from them whatever decorations, endow-

58 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1493

ments, furniture of sacred vessels, and ornaments they imag-
ined could add to its magnificence. The present structure
was erected in the thirteenth century, and King Robert I.
granted to the " town of Seton the liberty of having a weekly
market every holiday after mass," when the traders would
expose their goods in booths beside the church, where the
presence of the clergy and the sanctity of the place, under
the invocation of Our Lady and Saint Bennet (Benedict),
patron of the family, tended to preserve order among the
people and justice in their dealings. In the year 1493 lt
was made a collegiate establishment for a provost, six preb-
endaries, two singing-boys, and a clerk, to whose support
George, Lord Seton, assigned the tithes of the church and
various chaplainries which had been founded in it by his
ancestors. At later dates other members of the family made
additions to the edifice, multiplied its ornaments, increased its
wealth, and raised within it some sumptuous monuments. In
1544 the English invaders, while destroying the neighboring
castle, desecrated the church ; and after removing the bells,
organ, and other portable objects to their ships, burnt the
beautiful timber-work within. The church was soon re-
stored, and during the commotions of the Reformation had
the good fortune to escape almost uninjured. It remained
perfect until the Stuart troubles of 17 15, when the Hanove-
rian troops quartered in the castle and vicinity defaced the
interior of the building, broke the tombs, and tore up the
pavement in search of hidden treasures and for the lead that
encased the bodies,

Seton Church while undamaged was a handsome cru-
ciform Gothic structure with a central tower. Now it
stands desolate amid ancestral oaks entwined by the ivy
— the family Badge — retaining little of its former self, and
showing only the impressive and death-like beautv of an
architectural ruin. The Earl of Wemyss and March, a

A.D. IS77]

SETON CHURCH.

descendant, but not the representative of the original own-
ers, is the present proprietor, and has arrested the further
progress of decay. It has long been a favorite subject with
artists.

The illustration in this book is from Swan's engraving in
the Maitland Club Edition of the History of the House of Seyton.
The other illustration, showing a portion of the choir, is
from the pencil of that accomplished woman, Lady Stafford,
Countess of Sutherland in her own right, descended pater-
nally from the Setons and the Gor-
dons. The curious old bell, now
unfortunately broken, which formerly
hung in the church tower was cast in
Holland. It was long used in the
parish kirk of Tranent, until removed
to Gosford House near by, the seat of
Lord Wemyss, by whom it has since
been replaced in its original position.
The following Dutch inscription is
cut upon it : facop eis mynen naem
ghegoten -van Adriaen Steylaert hit iaer
MCCCCCLXXVII. It also bears the name and arms
of Lord Seton, and other decorations. A curious feature
of Seton Church is the hagioscope, vulgarly called u squint,"
which is an opening frequently found on one side, and
sometimes on both sides, of a chancel arch, arranged obliquely
and converging toward the altar, in order to enable wor-
shippers in the side aisles of a church to witness the Eleva-
tion of the Host during mass. It is the only one now
existing in Scotland. It may be an interesting item that
the last burial in this old church (until within these later
years, when the Wemyss family are beginning to be interred
there) was that of Miss Matilda Seton, on December 8, 1750.
I do not know who she was.

THE BELL OF SETON
CHURCH.

62 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1498

This is a season and a scene to hold

Discourse and purifying monologue.

Before the silent spirit of the Past !

Power built this house of Prayer — 'twas earthly power,

And vanished — see its sad mementos round !

The gillyflowers upon each fractured arch,

And from the time-worn crevices, look down,

Blooming where all is desolate. With tufts

Clustering and dark, and light green trails between,

The ivy hangs perennial ; yellow-flowered,

The dandelion shoots its juicy stalks

Over the thin transparent blades of grass,

Which bend and flicker, even amid the calm ;

And, O ! sad emblems of entire neglect,

In rank luxuriance, the nettles spread

Behind the massy tablatures of death,

Hanging their pointed leaves and seedy stalks

Above the graves, so lonesome and so low

Of famous men, now utterly unknown,

Yet whose heroic deeds were, in their day,

The theme of loud acclaim, — when Seton's arm

In power with Stuart and with Douglas vied.

Clad in their robes of state, or graith of war,

A proud procession, o'er the stage of time,

As century on century wheeled away,

They passed ; and, with the escutcheons mouldering o'er

The little spot, where voicelessly they sleep,

Their memories have decayed ; nay, even their bones

Are crumbled down to undistinguished dust,

Mocking the Herald, who, with pompous tones,

Would set their proud array of quarterings forth,

Down to the days of Chrystal and De Bruce.

— David Macbeth Moir : T he Ruins of Seton Chapel.

The most notable affair in the life of this lord was his
capture by Dunkirkers in the course of one of his voyages to
France. After losing all his baggage he was obliged to ran-
som his life from these Flemish pirates or privateers, but with
the firm resolve to bide his time and punish them severely.
This he did soon after, although at great cost to himself in
land and monev. On the 22d of January, 1498-99, as

INTERIOR OF SETON CHURCH.

A.D. 1500] DEFEAT OF THE DUNKIRKERS. 65

appears in the Register of the Privy Seal, he bought a ship
from the King of Scotland called the Eagle, fitted her for war,
and put to sea against his enemies, slew many of them, and
took and destroyed several of their vessels. The streamers and
flags, embroidered with the family arms, used on this occa-
sion were preserved at Seton Castle, and were seen and de-
scribed by Alexander Nisbet, the writer on Heraldrv, over two
hundred years later. Lord Seton married Ladv Margaret
Campbell,* eldest daughter of Colin, first Earl of Argyll, and
had three sons and two daughters :

George, his successor;

John, who died without issue;

Robert, a man-at-arms in France, who died in the Castle of
La Rocca, at Milan, during the Italian wars of Louis XII.,
leaving two sons : William, also a man-at-arms, in the Scots
Guards in France, and Alexander, who married Janet Sin-
clair, Heiress of Northrig, and founded the line of the Setons
of Northrig ;

Martha, who married William Maitland of Lethington, of
an ancient and distinguished family, and was ancestress of the
Earls of Lauderdale. Catharine, refusing many good offers
of marriage, entered the Convent of Saint Catharine of Siena,
at Edinburgh, and died there a professed sister at the age of
seventy-eight. The inmates of this convent were commonly
called " nuns of the Sheens," a corruption of Sciennes, and
are praised even by that bitter satirist, Sir David Lindsay, for
their unsullied virtue.

* The origin of the Campbell family is lost in the mists of antiquity, and
their remoter ancestry cannot be determined. The word Campbell itself is
Gaelic, and signifies crooked mouth. It is an example of a purely personal
and descriptive designation becoming an hereditary surname. The earliest
figure to emerge out of comparative obscurity was a certain Gillespie Camp-
bell in the twelfth century, who married the heiress of Lochaw, and was an-
cestor of the great and historical House of Argyll. The Campbells are
probably of Norman descent, despite their barbarous patronymic.
5

6o AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1 5 13

< c

This lord," says Maitland, " took great pleasure in the
company of cunning * men: he was a great setter in music."
He lived during twenty years of King James IV. 's reign, and
must have had much in common with his Majesty, who
" himself was skilled both in vocal and instrumental music."
As illustrating a family trait, the love of music, I shall antici-
pate, and mention the fact that this lord's great-grandson,
Chancellor Seton, persuaded King Charles I., who had been
his Ward in minority, to endow a Music School in Mussel-
burgh.

XXI. George, Fifth Lord Seton. During his brief
career he completed certain portions of the house at Seton,
and repaired the great dungeon. He was also a generous
benefactor to his Collegiate Church. By his wife, Lady Janet
Hepburn, daughter of Patrick, first Earl of Bothwell,f he had,
besides a daughter Mariota (or Marion), who in 1530 mar-
ried Hugh, second Earl of Eglinton, three sons, the first and
third of whom died young, and the second succeeded to the
title. This lord was very familiar with the chivalrous King
James IV., and was among the valiant ones who died at

* Cunning, in the sense of knowing and skilful in some art or science.

f The Hepburns were an old and powerful race, but of uncertain origin
and of an evil destiny. Their founder, Adam Hepburn, came into Scot-
land from England during the reign of David II., and obtained large
grants of land from that complacent monarch. Sir Patrick Hepburn, third
Lord Hales, was created Earl of Bothwell in 1488, and raised his fam-
ily to the foremost rank of the great barons of the kingdom. He married
Lady Janet Douglas, only daughter of the Earl of Morton. Their great-
grandson and the fourth earl is that James Hepburn whose crimes, par-
ticularly against Queen Mary Stuart, caused the just disgrace and ruin of
his family.

The name is said to be taken from Hepborne in Northumberland ; and
this, in my opinion, comes from two old words, hope, Anglo-Saxon (later
hepe, Old English), meaning a bramble-bush, and bourn or burn, a small
stream. The bush would probably be the wild rose, the English dog-rose,
the fruit of which was called hep and hip. A rose figures in the Hepburn
arms ; and this seems to confirm my derivation of the name.

1558] CONVENT OF S7\ CATHARINE OF SIENA. 67

Flodden on September 19, 15 13. His body was brought
home and buried with great lamentation in the choir of Seton
Church beside his father:

" Sleep in peace with kindred ashes
Of the noble and the true,
Hands that never failed their country,
Hearts that never baseness knew."

Lady Seton continued a widow until her death, forty-five
years after, and was a wise mother to her children and grand-
children and a very pious woman. Sir Richard Maitland
enumerates some of her many benefactions to Seton Church —
a silver processional cross, sacred vessels, rich and complete
sets of vestments, antependiums of fine woven arras, besides
adding new furniture to the revestry, founding two more
prebends, and enlarging the priest's chambers near the church,
parts of which remain. When her son came of age she re-
tired to the Convent of Saint Catharine of Siena, at Edinburgh,
of which she was a large benefactress, as others of her family
had been before. The Bull by which its foundation was con-
firmed is dated January 29, 15 17. It was the last religious
community brought together in Scotland before the disestab-
lishment of the Catholic Church :

The Douglasses of Glenbervie and the Lauders of Bass joined with the
Setons in obtaining- the Bull of Pope Leo X.; and John Cant, a pious citizen
with his wife Agnes Kerkettel, were also contributors. — Wilson : Old Edin-
burgh, II., 298.

Lady Seton died in this convent in 1558. Her body was
honorably transported to Seton, and buried in the choir of the
church beside her husband. Saint Catharine's Convent, com-
monly called u The Sciennes," was destroyed at the Reforma-
tion, and the inmates dispersed. Nothing now remains of it,
and even the site is built over, the only memorial being the
name " Saint Catharine's Place." Mr. George Seton, a
Protestant, an accomplished scholar and antiquarian, erected

JN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d.

within his grounds at Morningside a small cairn with a brief
inscription, consisting of stones saved while the ruins of the
convent were being demolished. The cairn is now pictu-
resquely overgrown with creeping ivy, and the mansion, ap-
propriately called by him " Saint Bennet's," is the residence
of the Catholic Archbishop of Saint Andrew's and Edinburgh,
to whom the property has been sold. Near to the site of the
former Sciennes, the only house of Dominicanesses in Scot-
land, is the modern
Convent of Saint Mar-
garet, where I have
said mass, and in which
are two Sisters, daugh-
ters of my friend and
kinswoman Mrs. Cov-
entry, of Burgate
House, Hants, whose
name, before marriage,
was Catharine Seton. Her father was the late Colonel Seton
of Brookheath, Representative of the Earls of Dunfermline.

XXII. George, Sixth Lord Seton. He succeeded his
father in 15 13, and was " a good, wise, and virtuous man."
This lord repaired the older parts of Niddry Castle, in his
Barony of Wynchburgh, and enlarged it. The top of the old
square tower is distinctly seen among the trees as the train
from Edinburgh speeds northward :

In former days the traveller to Stirling commonly went by the way of
Linlithgow, which is the place where Mary Stuart was born, and he was all
the more prompted to think of that enchanting woman because he usually
caught a glimpse of the ruins of Niddry Castle — one of the houses of her
faithful Lord Seton — at which she rested on the romantic and memorable
occasion of her flight from Lochleven. — William Winter : Gray Days and
Gold, p. 308.

When visited, either by driving out from Edinburgh or by
walking from the Wynchburgh Station, it is found to be an

THE SETON CAIRN AT EDINBURGH.

15*3-It>33~]

NIDDRT CASTLE.

imposing ruin. It is built in a good position, on a slight
eminence which rises more abruptly on the north side, where
the narrow brook called Niddry Burn once wound around it.
The stream has been slightly diverted from its original course
by the making of the railroad some fifty years ago. It runs
over a pebbly bottom, and keeps up a constant, melancholy

RUINS OF NIDDRY CASTLE.

purling. Before the railroad company built the little stone
bridge, there was a ford there. Part of the castle rests on a
mass of rocks forming a natural and craggy bulwark. There
are still some fine trees, particularly a few old elms, about the
place, which must once have been of considerable extent and
very strong. A level piece of ground covering two acres,
and formerly the castle garden, is surrounded by an old square

70 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1549

wall whose four gates are set each exactly opposite the other.
Two of them are arched and ornamented. The farm build-
ings are also old, and on one of them I noticed the monogram
G. H. S., for George Seton (the seventh lord) and (Isabel)
Hamilton his wife. Niddry now belongs to the Earl of
Hopetoun, whose principal residence is in the vicinity and
whose family is wealthy, yet nothing is done to preserve such
an interesting and historical monument of Queen Mary's
time. When I last was there the entrance to the tower was
coarsely boarded up, and a notice read that there was no ad-
mittance on account of the dangerous state of the ruin. Mait-
land describes this Lord Seton as much given to manly games
and out-door sports, especially hawking, and says that he was
reputed to be " the best falconer in his day." On Novem-
ber 17, 1533, he first appears in public life as an extraordi-
nary Lord among the Senators of the College of Justice, an
institution which had only been founded the preceding year. *
In 1542 he was associated with Lords Huntly and Home in
the command of a strong force organized to watch the opera-
tions of the English troops, while King James V. himself
assembled a large army at Edinburgh. In March, 1543, he
was intrusted with the keeping of Cardinal Beton, who was
accused of a treasonable correspondence with PVance. In
May, 1544, Seton Castle was burnt, and the church greatlv
injured by the English invaders, who carried away everything
they could. This unfortunate nobleman died on July 17,
1549, at the Abbey of Culross, and was buried in the choir,
because the English then garrisoned Haddington and harried
the lands of the Barons round about. When they evacuated
the country, his body was conveyed to Seton by his wife and
a large company of kinsmen and friends to be entombed in
his own church. He was twice married. His first wife —

* Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland,
by Sir David Dalrymple of Ilailes, Bart.

I 53 ! ] THE SEFENTH LORD SETON. 71

1527 — was Elizabeth Hay, eldest daughter of John, third
Lord Yester, bv whom he had two boys and live girls. The
eldest son, George, succeeded as seventh Lord Seton. John,
the second son, founded the Setons of Cariston by marrying
Isabel, Heiress of David Balfour of Cariston, in the County
of Fife, "of a very old-standing family," which is traced
back to Sir Michael Balfour, who died in 1344. Of the
five daughters, Beatrix married George, eldest son and heir
of Sir Walter Ogilvy of Dunlugus. Their grandson was
created a peer in 1642 as Baron Ogilvy of Banff, for his
eminent services in the roval cause. The title is dormant
since 1803.

Helen (Maitland says Eleanor) married Hugh, who suc-
ceeded as seventh Lord Somerville, a peerage created in 1430
and dormant since 1872.

Lord Seton married, secondlv, a French woman of noble
birth, Lady Mary Pyeris, who came to Scotland in the suite
of Mary of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke of Guise and
second wife of King James V., bv whom she was the mother
of the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots. Bv this foreign mar-
riage, something most unusual at that time and in Scotland,
Lord Seton had two sons, who left no descendants, and an
only daughter, who was one of the Four Maries.

XXIII. George, Seventh Lord Seton. He was born
in 1 53 1, and succeeded his father in 1549. It was to this
u noble and mightv lord " that Maitland dedicated his history
of the Seton Family, begun at the request of his father. He
was addicted to horse-racing and to hawking in his youth,
and on May 10, 1552, won a silver bell which was run for
at Haddington, the county town.

Before he was twenty he married Isabel, daughter and
heiress of Sir William Hamilton of Sanquhar, at the time one
of the Senators of the College of Justice and Captain of Edin-
burgh Castle, a singular combination of Peace and War. She

72 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

brought him the Manor of Sorn and other lands in Kyle. A
number of gold medals were struck to commemorate this
union, on account, especially, of the bride's relationship to
the Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland and Duke of Chatel-
lerault in France. The medal is now very rare. It is de-
scribed by Francisque Michel in his Civilization in Scotland
(p. 125), and I have examined one of these medals, at my
leisure, in the private office of my friend the late Mr. Regi-
nald Stuart Poole, Curator of the Department of Coins in the
British Museum. The Hamiltons have ranked for upward
of four hundred years among the most prominent and power-
ful of the Scottish nobility. Some genealogical writers affirm
that they derive their origin from the magnificent Norman
race of the de Bellomonts, Earls of Leicester. The Duke of
Abercorn is tc Heir Male of the House of Hamilton," but the
headship, name, and historical traditions of the family are
always associated in the popular mind with the Douglas-Ham-
iltons, Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon, who are Premier Peers
of Scotland, and have a reversionary interest in the Crown.

Sir William Hamilton of Sanquhar was also Lord-Treasurer
to James V., and invited his Majesty to Sorn Castle, in Ayr-
shire^ to be present at the marriage of his daughter to Lord
Seton. On the eve of the appointed day the king set out on
the journey; "but he had to traverse a long and dreary tract
of moor, moss, and miry clay, where there was neither road
nor bridge ; and when about half-way from Glasgow, he rode
his horse into a quagmire, and was with difficulty extricated
from his perilous seat on the saddle. Far from a house, ex-
posed to the bleak wind of a cold day, and environed on all
sides by a cheerless moor, he was compelled to take a cold
refreshment in no better a position than by the side of a very
prosaic well ; and he at length declared, with more pet-
tishness than wit, that 'if he were to play a trick on the
devil, he would send him to a bridal at Sorn in the middle of

l53o] THE SEVENTH LORD SETON. 73

winter.' " * The well at which he sat and swore is still there,
and is called the King's Well ; and the quagmire in which his
horse floundered is ironically called the King's Stable. There
is now an old inn at the place, on the highroad between
Glasgow and Kilmarnock. Soon after coming of age, Lord
Seton was elected Provost of Edinburgh, and governed the
capital for several tumultuous years with firmness and dis-
cretion. On one occasion there was an uproar in the city,
whereupon two of the municipal officers hurried out to the
Provost at Seton; but he, finding that they were to blame,
promptly confined them in his castle dungeon, while he rode
into Edinburgh, summoned the guard, and suppressed the riot.f
Toward the end of 1557 he was one of the Commissioners
appointed bv Parliament to be present at the marriage of Queen
Mary Stuart with the Dauphin of France, afterward Francis
II., on which occasion a magnificent present of silver plate
exquisitely wrought by Benvenuto Cellini was made him by
the king. This work of art, superior to anything yet seen
in Scotland, after serving at banquets prepared for royalty
at Winton House and Seton Castle, was finally stolen and
beaten to pieces or melted down, in the plunder of the family
mansions in 17 15. The Setons were always in the forefront
of culture, refinement, and progress. As an illustration, it is
stated, among other things, in the Memorle of the Somervilles,
that " the first coach brought to Scotland was by this Lord
Seton when Queen Marv came from France." After the
marriage of Marv and Francis, he was sent to England to
present Queen Mary's portrait to her cousin Queen Eliza-
beth, and was worthily entertained at the English Court. He
returned to France to accompany Queen Mary, now a widow,
back to Scotland; and having enjoyed her favor in the hour of
prosperity, he was a devoted friend in the days of her adversity.

* Historical Gazetteer of Scotland, II., 68 1.

\ Fountainhall : MS. in the Advocates' Library.

74 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

He was sworn by the young Queen one of her Privy Coun-
cil, and appointed Master of the Household. He was also a
knight of the most noble Order of the Thistle. Nisbet de-
scribes a life-size portrait of him at Seton, in which he grasps
his official baton, and underneath which were painted in letters
of gold the lines :

" In Adversitate Patiens —
In Prosperitate Benevolus —
Hazard Yet Forward ! "

a motto which denotes his characteristics of patience, cour-
tesy, and courage. Mottoes were all the vogue among dis-
tinguished people in this and the following reign. Under the
arms of the celebrated Lord Chancellor Seton, moulded in
stucco at Pinkie House, is this one:

" Xec Cede Adversis Rebus :
Nee Crede Secundis."

It lacks the chivalrous sentiment of his grandfather's, and
smacks too much of the Jesuit Balthasar Gracian's Art of
Worldly Wisdom.

During the few years of comparative peace and happiness
following the Queen's home-coming she was a frequent vis-
itor to Seton, where she would practise archery and play at
golf, two games for which the Seton Butts and Seton Links
were famous. Chambers, in his Stories of Old Families,
describes the joyous times at Seton; and the beautiful "Seton
Necklace," sold with other Eglinton heirlooms a few years
ago, was a prize won by Mary Seton at golf in a game against
the Queen. Maitland mentions some of the architectural
improvements and additions of this lord to his principal resi-
dence, which had suffered severely from English depredations,
being on the direct road from Edinburgh to Berwick. Mait-
land also tells us how on the 16th of Februarv, I 56 1 , at two
o'clock in the morning u the great dungeon of the old tower

1 561-1563]

SETON HOUSE.

of Seton fell to the ground, but as God would have it, it did
nobody harm."

The following is a short account of Seton House I wrote
about thirty years ago:

" The nucleus of this baronial ruin, formerly the residence

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, AT SETON.
A game of archery.

of the Earls of Winton, is very ancient, some portions of the
tower and its surrounding wall still remaining, all ivy-clad,
after the lapse of seven hundred years; but the first castle
having been in great part destroyed during the long wars with
England, a new building was erected about the middle of the
sixteenth century, which was esteemed at the period and for
many years afterward, much the most magnificently con-

76 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1564

structed and furnished house in Scotland. It was often
called, in accordance with the Scotch fashion introduced
under the influence of French ideas, the Palace of Seton,
because it was so frequently the abode of royalty. This vast
and handsome structure occupied a pleasant position in the
midst of a well-wooded demesne in East Lothian, on the
coast of the Firth of Forth, and took its name from one of
the oldest, wealthiest, and most influential families in the
kingdom. There is no end of traditions regarding the
princely style maintained at Seton. It had been visited in
royal progresses by Queen Mary, by her son King James
VI., by the unfortunate Charles I., and by the merry mon-
arch Charles II. ; and an account of the masques and cere-
monies on these occasions would fill a volume. At the Ref-
ormation and for almost a century afterward, Seton House
was the stronghold of the Catholic party in the South, one of
the refuges and hiding-places for the priests, and the first
mansion at which the clergy coming from the Continent were
received and entertained, after landing in disguise in that part
of Scotland. The fourth Earl of Winton, succeeding his
grandfather while yet a minor, was brought up a Protestant
by a time-serving kinsman who had obtained possession of his
person. The last earl lost his titles and estates for partici-
pating in the Rebellion of 17 15, and was condemned to death,
but managed with great ingenuity to escape from the Tower
of London, and lived the rest of his life in extreme poverty at
Rome, where he died on December 19, 1749. The gardens
and orchards around Seton House, which now belong to the
Earl of Wemyss and March, a remote descendant of the
family which so long flourished there, are still celebrated for
the finest and earliest fruits of the season, and the stately oaks
and elm-trees in the park remind one even now that the works
of nature outlive the greatest efforts of genius; while the sol-
emn and deserted grandeur of Seton Chapel, situated in the

THE NEW SETON CASTLE.

immediate neighborhood, and the melancholy ruins of the
castle, make one regret that so much should have been need-
lessly and thanklessly sacrificed in the cause of the most un-
grateful and (latterly) most worthless of dynasties."

Scarcely a fragment remains of this old castle-palace of the
Setons. The estates of the forfeited earl having been pur-
chased from the British Government by the York Building

THE SETON CASTLE RAISED BY MACKENZIE ON THE SITE OF THE

OLDER ONE, 1 798.

(From a photograph taken from the tower of the church in 1889, by my friend William Dunlop, Esq.)

Company, Seton House was fraudulently bought in at a public
sale in 1790 by one of their agents, who, inspired by igno-
rance and hate, tore down the whole structure — the most per-
fect specimen in existence of Gallo-Scottish Renaissance —
and erected in its place a modern mansion from the designs
of John Adam, one of the four sons of the celebrated archi-
tect of that name. It has always been a subject of regret to
the Earls of Wemyss (Charteris-Douglas) that they were then
deprived of the opportunity of becoming, until too late, the pro-
prietors of Seton House, as in that case, they say, they would

82 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1561]

have restored it and made it their principal residence instead
of Gosford House, on which they have since spent such im-
mense sums. The Setons had also a large and magnificent
town house in Edinburgh. Lord Darnley sojourned there in
1565, and about eighteen years later the French ambassador
Manzeville. It is referred to in the Diurnal of Occurrents in
Scotland. li Time has long since dealt with the Canongate
Mansion of the Seytons. In Edgar's map of 1742 the ruins
still constituted a prominent feature there; but before the cen-
tury closed they had been displaced by Whitefoord House."*
When Gordon of Rothiemay executed his famous Bird's-eye
View of Edinburgh in 1647, tne Seton lodging stood entire,
with its open pleasure-grounds to the north, its close, and
its outer and inner courts. The inner court is there shown as
a large quadrangle, on a scale only equalled by one or two
others among the civic mansions of the time. Readers of
Scott are familiar with his description of this place in The
Abbot, although, after all, Roland Graeme takes us no farther
than the vaulted archway and outer court, and a hall dimly
lighted by latticed casements of colored glass, and on the
walls of which were sculptured religious devices and heraldic
shields between hanging arms and suits of mail disposed for
ornament as well as use. During some recent excavations,
several underground arches which supported the massive struc-
ture and served as a domestic prison were brought to light, f

For many years Whitefoord House has been occupied by
the Maar Tvpefounding Company, and has an ill-kept, dirty
look about it. On the same side of the street, but higher
up, is u Seton's Close," at present numbered 267; and

Seton's Land" is mentioned in a popular song found in a

< (.

* Wilson : Old Edinburgh, I., 167.

\ At an early period in the history of the Popes, the Vice-dominus had
jurisdiction over the domestics of the palace, and " the grated prison for
such offenders was a chamber deep down among the vaults of the Cellarium
Majus of the Lateran." — Seton : Essays, p. 204.

ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS OF THE SETONS 83

manuscript collection formed about 1760, and first printed in
Chambers's Traditions of Edinburgh, p. 222. While I am on
the subject, I may as well quote here what such an authority
as Billings says in his Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities
of Scotland (Vol. IV.): " Scotland owes many of her architec-
tural ornaments to the munificent taste of the family of Seton.
Thev built Seton Church and the palace adjoining, which has
now disappeared. They built, according to their family his-
torian, the old bridge of Musselburgh, which tradition makes a
Roman work. That peculiar and beautiful structure, Winton
House, was erected as a mansion for the head of the family.
Lastly, Alexander Seton, Earl of Dunfermline, who added the
ornamental parts to Pinkie, was the same who got built for
himself the even more stately and beautiful Castle of Fyvie.'1

The present Seton Castle was long leased by William
Dunlop, Esq., who is connected with the family through the
marriage of Elizabeth Seton (who died 18th of May, 16 12)
with Alexander Dunlop. Pinkie was the seat, when I was
there, of Sir John Hope, Bart., and Fvvie of A. J. Forbes-
Leith, Esq. (whose wife is an American). By these I have
been hospitably entertained in places filled with or surrounded
bv memorials of my family.

Let us return to Lord Seton. When Queen Mary, then at
his house, was about to create her half-brother, Lord James
Stuart, Earl of Moray, in January, 1561, she proposed to
advance her faithful friend also ; but he asked — with a pride,
perhaps, that apes humility — to be allowed to retain his lower
rank, because, as it has been alleged, he preferred to be the
premier baron rather than the junior earl. I suspect that
there was an arriere pens'ee which he was too perfect a courtier
to express, and that the real reason of his refusal was that,
Stuart being a bastard and a bad man —

' False to his vows, a wedded priest " —
a gentleman of Lord Seton's high sense of honor — no king

84 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1 567- 1568]

had ever found a mistress of his name and blood — would not

share the glory of an earldom in his company. It was on

this occasion that the Queen wrote with a diamond ring upon

a window of the great hall — called Sampson's Hall — at Seton

these Latin verses :

" Sunt comites, ducesque alii, sunt denique reges ;
Setoni dominum sit satis esse mihi."

Sir Walter Scott has rendered them into English :

" Earl, Duke, or King, be thou that list to be :
Seton, thy lordship is enough for me."

To indicate the unshaken loyalty of himself and family, and
express in a single line his religious and political principles,
he caused to be carved in stone and filled in with large gilt
letters, and then set up over the main entrance to the house
which he rebuilt, the following French inscription :
" Un Dieu, Une Foy, Un Roy, Une Loy."

In June, 1567, Queen Mary and Bothwell, with several
lords who had answered their unhappy sovereign's appeal, and
a considerable force assembled for battle on Carberry Hill.
In Aytoun's poem of Bothwell Lord Seton is described at the
moment :

He was a noble of a stamp

Whereof this age hath witnessed few ;

Men who came duly to the camp,

Whene'er the Royal trumpet blew.

Blunt tenure lords, who deemed the Crown

As sacred as the Holy Tree,

And laid their lives and fortunes down

Not caring what the cause might be.

-VI., 15.

Lord Seton' s gallant rescue of Queen Mary from her cap-
tivity in Lochleven Castle in May, 1568, is the most roman-
tic episode in her life and in his own career. After her
escape she rested for several days at his castle of Niddry ; and
it is of her stay there, to give time for her adherents to assem-
ble under the Hamiltons, that Miss Strickland says: "She

"Mi^?

BATTLE OF LANGSIDE. 87

stood a Queen once more, among the only true nobles of her
realm, those whom English gold had not corrupted, nor suc-
cessful traitors daunted." A brief inscription on an oblong
stone tablet — George Lord Seton of His Age j6, 156J — long
commemorated this nobleman over one of the windows of the
castle. It has recently disappeared, but by great good for-
tune a sketch of it was made in 1852, and is engraved in
Ballingall's Edinburgh Past and Present, p. 78. As is well
known, the disastrous battle of Langside destroyed Queen
Mary's party. Lord Seton here displayed the hereditarv valor
of his race, repeatedly charging the rebel heights with the cry,
"God and the Queen! Set on! Set on!' He was
wounded and taken prisoner, and came near being put to death.
u When he was brought into the presence of Moray, he was
bitterly rebuked by him as having been the prime author and
the chief performer in this tragedv ; whereas according to
Moray, it was his duty to have been one of the first to pro-
tect the infant king. Seton answered that he had given his
fidelity to one prince, and that he would keep it as long as he
lived, or until the Queen should have laid down her right of
government of her own free will. Irritated by the reply,
Moray asked him to say what he himself thought his own
punishment ought to be, and threatened that he should un-
dergo the extreme severity of the law. ' Let others decide,'
said Seton, ' what I deserve. On that point mv conscience
gives me no trouble, and I am well aware that I have been
brought within your power, and am subject to your will.
But I would have you know that even if you cut off my head,
as soon as I die there will be another Lord Seton.' " *

As it was, he got imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, but
after a year's confinement went into exile. He lived thus
two years in great poverty and distress in Flanders and

* Memoirs of Mary, Queen of Scots (Claude Nau). Edited by Rev.
Joseph Stevenson, S.J., p 173.

88 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1583

Holland, where he came into relations with Alva, and brought
himself into serious trouble, which might have ended fatally,
by trying to bring the Scots regiments then in the service of
the rebellious States over to the Spanish side. * Lord Seton
returned to Scotland in January, 1571, and is then constantly
mentioned in letters and state papers, and always as an incor-
ruptible and untiring agent of the imprisoned Queen and of
the Catholic cause. In Bellesheim's History of the Catholic
Church in Scotland, III., p. 241, he says:

" An interesting glimpse of the condition of Scottish Catholics at this
time is given us by the letter sent to Pope Gregory on February 15, 1574,
by John Irving, a Knight of Malta, from his prison in Edinburgh.

" Irving, who attributes his present situation to the action of informers,
affirms his adherence to the Catholic faith, for which he is ready by God's
grace to endure every extremity. He mentions, as one of the most faithful
of the Scottish nobles, Lord Seton, who had made great sacrifices in the
cause of religion and who, together with his three sons, had been excom-
municated by the Established Church.

" The writer adds that Lord Seton has under consideration various plans
for the restoration of the Catholic faith in Scotland, which he doubts not
will meet with the approbation of his Holiness."

In November, 1583, Lord Seton was sent ambassador to
the King of France (Henry III.), and letters were subse-
quently written to King James VI. by the Duke of Lorraine,
the Cardinals of Guise and Bourbon, and others relative to his
embassy and commending his diligence, zeal, judgment, and
unswerving loyalty.

An interesting letter from this Lord Seton to Pope Gregory
XIII. is published in Theiner's Annals, and the following is a
translation from Father Forbes-Leith's Narratives of Scottish
Catholics under Mary Stuart and fames VI. :

Lord Seton to Pope Gregory XIII.

" To our Most Holy Lord. — I need not explain to your Holiness the
part which I have taken in defending the Catholic religion, and the authority
of the Supreme Pontiff, for I would rather leave this to others.

* Burton : The Scot Abroad, p. 320.

1584] LETTER TO POPE GREGORT XIII. 89

" Having been sent hither by my most serene master, the King of Scots,
to implore the aid of the most Christian King, in our dreadful emergencies,
I could not do otherwise than write to your Holiness some account of the
state of our affairs. Briefly, after the ministers had succeeded in sending the
Duke of Lennox away from Scotland, the King was so offended that he would
hold no communication with them, though previously he had always acted
in accordance with their advice. They took offence in turn, and set on foot a
violent insurrectionary movement against his authority, partly by means of the
agents of the Queen of England, and partly through their own rebel leaders.

" Being reduced to extremity, he has implored the aid of the most Chris-
tian King, and more particularly that of his relative, the Duke of Guise ; a
proceeding which has raised the hopes of Catholics to the highest point.

'; So favourable an opportunity never occurred before, and could not have
been expected or looked for ; and it is doubly important that it should not
be lost. The King has so high an opinion of the Duke of Guise, that we
are in hopes he will be guided in everything by his advice ; indeed, he has
not only written as much to the Duke, but has charged me with a message
to the same effect.

" Our hope is that your Holiness will both animate and encourage the
Duke to make some effort in the cause of religion, and also give him sub-
stantial assistance.

" God himself, beyond all our hopes, seems to have provided your Holi-
ness with this opportunity of extending religion and obtaining never-ending
glory. The King's age, his perilous and critical position, the unbridled
insolence of the ministers, are all circumstances in our favour. But it is of
the utmost importance to lose no time, or the chance will pass away.

' The Queen of England is straining every nerve to crush the King of
Scots by a rebellion in his own country, and if successful, she will suppress
the Catholic religion altogether. The Duke of Guise, to whom I have
transmitted the King of Scotland's letter for your Holiness, will doubtless
explain matters in detail. But I would implore your Holiness not to let the
existence of these communications be known to anyone, for this would, at
the present juncture, place the King in the most extreme difficulty.

" At a later period we hope, by the aid of your Holiness, that he will be
free to declare himself openly a son of your Beatitude. At present he is so
situated and so completely in the power of his enemies, that he is scarcely
at liberty to do anything whatever ; from this condition it is for your
Beatitude to rescue him. God preserve you long to his Church.

" Your Holiness's most humble servant,

" Seton."

" Paris, March 14, 15S4."

A portrait of this nobleman bv Holbein was long in the
possession of the Somervilles ; but by far the most interesting

90 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1585

one is the group by Sir Antonio More, which has been en-
graved by Pinkerton in hij Scottish Iconographia, and is also
in the possession of the representative of the last Lord Somer-
ville. This famous composition consists of Lord Seton in his
thirty-ninth year, his daughter and four sons. It has been
enthusiastically described by Sir Walter Scott in the Provin-
cial Antiquities (II., 139)) who there calls attention to "the
grave, haughty, and even grim cast of countenance" which
distinguishes them all. In July, 1882, at the disposal of the
Hamilton Palace collection, a beautiful miniature of " George,
Lord Setone, aetatis suae 27," by H. Bone, R.A., after an
original in the Somerville family, was sold to Mr. Denison
for ^131, equal to $655.

There are also exquisite vis-a-vis miniature portraits of
Lord and Lady Seton at the top of the Armorial Pedigree of
Touch in the possession of the Seton-Steuarts, Baronets.

After a life of trying vicissitudes, during which he had seen
the subversion of the Ancient Faith, the captivitv of his sov-
ereign Mistress, and the establishment of the Protestant Re-
ligion in Scotland, Lord Seton died on the 8th of January,
1585, and was buried in his family church, where, on a slab
of black marble embedded in the wall, there is a lengthy
epitaph from the pen of his son Alexander, who was an ele-
gant Latin scholar. It is now in parts defaced and indistinct.

Epitaph of George, Seventh Lord Seton, and Isabella Hamil-
ton Mis Wife, in Seton Church.

(From a copy made in 1767 for the Marquess of Abercorn, and now in
the possession of the Rev. Father Forbes-Leith, S.J., of Selkirk.)

" D. O. M.

"Ad Australe Sacelli hujus latus condita sunt Corpora Georgii Setonii
& Isabellas Ilamiltonire nobilissimarum et ajterna memoria dignissimarum
Animarum Domicilia.

" Georgius hoc nomine Quintus, Setonii Dominus et Familire Princeps,
Latifundia et Rem a majoribus tradita, dimcillimis Reipub : temporibus
honorifice tenuit ct ampliavit. Jacobo Quinto regnante natus, Adolescens,

THE SETON PORTRAIT GROUP.
(By Sir Antonio More.)

A.D. 1606] EPITAPH IN SETON CHURCH. 93

cum in Galliis ageret, Patre optimo orbatus. Ad suos reversus, brevi post
Regni Ordinum Decreto eodem remittitur, ibique unus Legatorum Mariae
Reginae et Francisci Franciae Delphini nuptias et antiqua Gallorum Scoto-
rumque Faedera sancivit firmavitque. Domum regressus, Religionis et Sa-
crorum Innovatione, bellis turn externis turn civilibus flagrantem Patriam
invenit, cum in Scotia Anglus Gallusque Germanus et Hispanus, Scoti etiam
inter se dimicarent. yEdes suas bis terque ab Anglis incensas et funditus
deletas, devastatis etiam Praediis omnibus, in ampliorem denuo splendidi-
oremque formam restituit. In oranera Fortunam liber semper et intrepidus,
trucidato a perditissimis hominibus Rege, acta in Exilium Regina a Prin-
cipum Patribus, Majorum more semper constans stetit. Hac firmitate saepe
carcere et custodia afflietus, saepe in exilium actus, et bonis omnibus exutus,
ejusmodi calamitates innumeras, Fidei in Patriam et veros Principes Testes,
forti animo non modo tulit sed sprevit & superavit. Tandem ab Jacobo
Sexto, cujus auspiciis, Prudentia et Consiliis, Scotia procellis omnibus et
difficultatibus liberata, splendori suo restituta est, Ipse etiam honorifice pro
mentis acceptus et habitus, majorum suorum Locum et Dignitatem tenuit,
primusque ab eo ad Hen. III. Galliarum Regem Legatus, cum amplissimis
ad firmandam Amicitiam mandatis mittitur. Quo in munere cum gratam
acceptamque utrique Principum operam navaret, lethalem ipsi morbum ante-
actas vitae labores adferunt, in Patriam redit, intra mensem ad Superos
migrat, VI. Id. Jan. An. Domini CI3I3LXXXV, iEtat. circiter LV.

" Domina Isabella Hamiltonianobilissimis Parentibus nata, Patre nimirum
D. Willielmo de Sanquhar Equite et Matre Katherina Kennedie Cassilissae
Comitis Filia, Ipsa Forma, Moribus, omnibusque turn Animi turn Corporis
dotibus insignis, et inter aequales praestans : Georgium hunc Setonii Domi-
num maritum nactam in adversis illi omnibus Adjumento et Solatio, in pro-
speris Ornamento fuit.

" Conjugi charissimo duodeviginti annos superstes cum communibus
Liberis liberaliter et conjunctissime vixit ; Quidquid a marito Fortunarum
acceperat, cum Natis amanter communicavit, eorumque conatus omnes et
honesta studia Bonis suis fovit et promovit, nee exiguos Pietatis hujus et
maternae Charitatis fructus vivens percepit. Liberorum muneribus, Digni-
tatibus et ornamentis, Ipsa quoque clarior et illustrior, donee senio et articu-
lorum Doloribus morbisque afflicta, Deo animam reddidit II. Id. Novemb.
Anno Domini CI3I.DCVI, Annum agens circiter LXXV.

" Tam claris Parentibus orta est haec Soboles.

" Robertus Setonus primogenitus et primus Wentoniae Comes hoc Titulo
ob propria et majorum merita ab Jacobo Sexto ornatus.

" Joannes Eques eidem Regi imprimis charus, ab intimis consiliis, Que-
stura et pluribus muneribus auctus, in flore aetatis e vivis sublatus, Liberis
tamen relictis.

" Alexander multis annis Senator, et ab intimis Consiliis turn Princeps
Senatus ab ipso ordine electus, demura a Rege prudentissimo qui primus

94 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

Scotiam Angliamque in unura contulit Dominatum, utriusque Regni Con-
siliorum Particeps, Fermelinoduni comes, et Regni Scotiae factus est
Cancellarius.

' Willielmus Eques, Louthianae Vicecomes et unus turn Scotiae turn
Angliae limitum e Praefectis et Procuratoribus.

" Margareta Filia, Claudio Hamiltonio Pasleto Domino nupto, Jacobi
primi Abercorniae Comitis Mater, totiusque iilius prosapiae Fratrum Soro-
rumque dicti Comitis Faecunda Parens.

" Hsc Posteri norint, et tanti Viri spectataeque adeo Feeminae memoriam
colant. Virtutes aemulentur, bonisque Moribus bona verba.

" Magnorum Virorum Memoria non minus utilis est quam Praesentia.

"A. S.* CIDI3CX
"A. S. F. C. F. F."f

The Epitaph of Lord Seton and His Lady, translated from the
Latin on a Marble Slab in Seton Chapel.

(From a MS. in the possession of the Earl of Wemyss.)

" Near the south side of this chapel are deposited the bodies, once the
habitations of the souls, of George Seton and Isabel Hamilton ;
souls truly noble, and worthy of everlasting remembrance. George, of
this name the 5th, honourably possessed and enlarged the ample estates
and fortune transmitted to him by his ancestors in times of great disturbance
in the country. He was born in the reign of James the Fifth. Being de-
prived of his most worthy father, when he was a young man, living in
F" ranee, he returned home, and in short time afterwards, by a decree of the
Estates of the Kingdom, he is sent back to France, and there, as one of the
Ambassadors, he negotiated and ratified the marriage between Queen Mary
and Francis, Dauphin of France, and the antient treaties between the
French and Scots. Upon his return home, he found his country involved
in the flames, both of foreign and civil wars, upon the change of religion
and the forms of worship : when within Scotland, the English and French,
the Germans and Spaniards, were engaged in war, and the Scots also fight-
ing among themselves, his house having been more than once burnt to the
ground, and entirely demolished, and all his estates ravished by the English,
he restored the whole anew upon a scale more extensive, and in a style more
magnificent. In every change of fortune always independant and un-
daunted, when his King was murdered by the most abandoned of men, and
the Queen being driven into exile by the faction of the nobles, he, like his
brave ancestors, always stood unmoved. For this steady loyalty being often
imprisoned and kept in close confinement, often banished his country, and

* Anno Salutis.

f Alexander Setonus Fermelinoduni Comes Fieri Fecit.

1610] TRANSLATION OF LATIN EPITAPH. 95

stripped of all his fortune, he not only sustained with fortitude, but even
despised and surmounted innumerable distresses of that kind, which bore
witness of his faithful attachment to his country, and his loyalty to its right-
ful Sovereigns. At length, upon the accession of James the Sixth, by whose
auspicious government, prudence, and counsels, Scotland was delivered from
all its tempests and distresses, and restored to its antient splendor, he too
was honourably received, and treated according to his merit, recovered his
rank and dignity of his ancestors, and was sent by the King as his chief am-
bassador to Henry the Third King of France, with the most ample powers
to confirm the alliance between them. In this high office, when he wras per-
forming services to the satisfaction, and with the favour of both Princes, the
labours of his past life bring upon him a fatal disease. He returned to his
own country, and within a month after he went hence to a better state, on
the 8th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1585, about the 55th year
of his age.

" Dame Isabell Hamilton sprung from parents of noble birth ; her father
being Sir William Hamilton of Sanquhar, and her mother Catherine Kennedy,
daughter of the Earl of Cassils, was herself distinguished for beauty, moral
excellence, and all accomplishments both of mind and body ; standing high
in these respects among the ladies of her age. Having got this George Lord
Seton for her husband, she was his support and comfort in all his adversities,
and his ornament in prosperity.

" Surviving her dearest husband 18 years, she lived in a liberal and most
affectionate manner with their common children.

" All the jointure she had received from her husband she chearfully shared
with them in common, and with her substance cherished and promoted all
their honourable endeavours and studies ; nor did she reap in her own life
time scanty fruits of this pious attention and maternal love, being herself
rendered more respectable and illustrious, by the high offices, dignities,
and honours of her children, until worn out with age, and afflicted with the
gout, and other diseases, she resigned her soul to God, on the 13th. of Nov.
1604, being about 75 years of age.

" Off these so illustrious parents this was the issue : —

" 1st, Robert Seton, their eldest son, the first Earl of Win ton, honoured
with this title by James the Sixth for his own merits and those of his
ancestors.

" 2nd, Sir John, very high in favour with the same King ; made a privy
counsellor, and raised to be lord high treasurer, and other great offices.

" He was carried off in the flower of his age ; yet leaving children
behind him.

"3d, Alexander, many years a judge of the Supreme Court, and a privy
counsellor ; then chosen president of the Court of Session, by the Court
itself, was at length made a privy counsellor of both kingdoms, by that
wise being who first connected Scotland and England by the tie of a common

96 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1574

Sovereign, and was created Earl of Dunfermline and counsellor* of the king-
dom of Scotland.

"4th, William, sheriff of Lothian; and one of the lords wardens and
administrators of the marches of Scotland and England.

" 5th, a daughter, Margaret, married to Claud Hamilton, Lord of Pais-
ley, mother of James, the first Earl of Abercorn, and the fruitful parent of
all that flourishing family of brothers and sisters.

" Let posterity know these things, and honour the memory of so great a
man, and so distinguished a woman ; let them imitate their virtues, and
wish sweet repose to their pious souls.

" The memory of great men is no less useful than their presence."

By his marriage with Isabel Hamilton, Lord Seton left four
sons and a daughter:

1. Robert, first Earl of Winton.

2. Sir John Seton of Barnes.

3. Alexander, first Earl of Dunfermline.

4. Sir William Seton of Kyllismuir.

5. Margaret, who married Claude Hamilton, created Lord
Paisley. Their son was the first Earl of Abercorn, ancestor
of the present duke. This marriage took place " with great
triumph " at Niddry Castle on the 1st of August, 1574.

* A mistake for chancellor.

CHAPTER IV.

A.D. I548-1615.

Mary Seton. Mary Seton was the only daughter of the
sixth lord by his second wife, and consequently she was half-
sister to the seventh lord, of whom I have written. She was
one of the " Four Maries" celebrated in song and tradition,
daughters of Scottish noblemen, all of the same age and Chris-
tian name as Mary Stuart. • They were brought up as her
playmates at the Priory of Inchmahome, on an islet in the
lake of Monteith under the shadow of the Highlands, and
afterward accompanied her as little maids of honor when she
was taken to France in childhood. Mary Seton was the
fairest, most devoted, and best beloved of them all. The
words of the old ballad founded on the dying lament of one
of the four are remembered even now :

" Yestreen the Queen had four Maries,
This night she'll have but three ;
There was Mary Seton, and Mary Beton,
And Mary Carmichael, and Me."*

They remained in France from 1548 to 1561, receiving
there a finished education, f Mary Seton was the only one
who never married, although not for want of noble suitors,
among whom the most ardent and persistent was Andrew
Beton, nephew of the murdered Cardinal and brother of the

* The ballad of " The Queen's Marie" is preserved in the Minstrelsy of
the Scottish Border, and was communicated by the accomplished antiquary
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.

f La Premiere Jennesse de Marie Stuart, Paris, 1891.

98 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

then Archbishop of Glasgow. He was a faithful friend and
servant of the Queen ; but Mary Seton had cherished from
her earliest years, amid the monastic cloisters of Inchmahome,
a pious inclination to retire from the world, when she could
do so without seeming to desert her unfortunate sovereign,
whose captivity she shared both in Scotland and in England.*
Once on being pressed by her kind-hearted mistress to marry,
she declared the secret of her life — that she was not free to do
so, having made a vow of virginity. She would never admit
an earthly bridegroom.

Finally, in September, 1583, she obtained the Oueen's
permission to retire from her service and fulfil her desire of
entering a convent. . She became a nun at Saint Pierre-aux-
Dames in Rheims, of which house the Queen's aged aunt,
Renee de Lorraine, was abbess; and died there some time
after 161 5. I have had in my hands a letter, preserved in
the Manuscript Department of the British Museum, from Mary
Seton to the Countess of Roxburgh, dated from Rheims,
September, 16 14. The most curious of the several existing
memorials of Marv Seton is a Memento Mori Watch, now in
the possession of the Dick-Lauder family. Their baronetcy
goes back to 1670. Sir John Lauder, Bart., married Marga-
ret, daughter of Sir Alexander Seton of Pitmedden, Bart., a
Senator of the College of Justice by the title of Lord Pit-
medden. James W. Benson, in his interesting little book
on Time and Time Tellers, London, 1875, gives a picture of
it and a description, part of which is as follows :

" It was not an unusual thing for religious persons who used rosaries at
their devotions, to add to their beads a miniature skull, with a view it may
be to remind themselves of the frailty of life by way of stimulus to the
preparation for the future state.

" When watches were invented the Memento Mori death's head was made
into a watch-case, as in the illustration. The Lauder family, of Grange and

* //; Ladies Company : Six Interesting Women, by Mrs. Fenwick Miller.

1 583-161 5] MART S ETON'S WATCH.

Fountain Hall, possess the Memento Mori Watch there engraved, they
having inherited it from their ancestors, the Setoun family.

" It was given by Queen Mary to Mary Setoun, of the House of Wintoun,
one of the four Marys, maids of honour to the Scottish Queen. This very
•curious relic must have been intended to be placed on a prie-dieu, or small
altar, in a private oratory ; for it is too heavy to have been carried in any
way attached to the person. The watch is of the form of a skull ; on the
forehead is the figure of Death, standing between a palace and a cottage ;
around is this legend from Horace : ' Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pau-
perum tabernas Regumque turres.' On the hind part of the skull is a figure
•of Time, with another legend from Horace : ' Tempus edax rerum tuque
invidiosa vetustas.' The upper part of the skull bears representations of
Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and of the crucifixion, each with
Latin legends ; and between these scenes is open-work, to let out the sound
when the watch strikes the hours upon a small silver bell, which fills the
hollow of the skull and receives the works within it when the watch is shut."

MARY SETON S WATCH.

Marie c&szfyt

AUTOGRAPH FROM HER WILL.

CHAPTER V.

A.D. I585-I716.

Robert Seton, First Earl of Winton. On the death
of George, -seventh Lord Seton, in 1585, he was succeeded
by his eldest surviving son, Robert, as eighth lord. Although
his father left the estates heavily encumbered by reason of
the great expense of several embassies and of his losses suf-
fered by adhering to the Queen's party, yet by prudence
and ability he was soon able to put his affairs in good con-
dition and provide both sons and daughters with respectable
fortunes. " He was very hospitable, and kept a noble house,
the king and queen being frequently there, and all French
and other ambassadors and strangers of qualitv were nobly
entertained." * He was a favorite with the king, and was
created Earl of Winton with solemnity and pomp of ban-
ners, standards, and pennons inscribed with loyal mottoes and
quaint devices at Holvrood House, on the 16th of November,
1600. He was a great builder and a wise improver of his
property, especially by working on the old harbor of Coc-
kenzie, along the most rugged part of the Firth of Forth, a
curious fishing village of great antiquity whose history is
little known. It originallv sheltered only small boats, but
when improved bv art accommodated vessels of a larger size.
In January, 1599, the king granted him a charter under the
Great Seal of Scotland concerning Cockenzie, which had pre-

* Lord Kingston's Continuation of Mankind's History, p. 59.

PRESBYTERIAN INTERFERENCE. ioi

viously been erected into a u free port and burgh of barony."
Adhering to the Catholic religion, the earl and his family
suffered indignities from the Presbytery of Haddington, as may
be seen by the Records. One entry reads thus :

" 1597. Setoun Kirk. The Presbitery asked Lord Setoun if he will
suffer them to sit in the Kirk of Setoun for the space of two or three days,
because they are to ' gang about ' all the churches within their bounds ; but
this his Lordship altogether refused."

I believe that Protestant worship has never been held in
Seton Church, as after the family conformed they attended
Tranent parish church, leaving their own church deserted, as
it has remained ever since. *

In 1582 Lord Seton, as he then was, married Lady Mar-
garet Montgomerie, oldest daughter of Hugh, third Earl of
Eglinton, by whom he had five sons and a daughter:

1. Robert, second Earl of Winton.

2. George, third Earl of Winton.

3. Sir Alexander Seton of Foulstruther, who succeeded as
sixth Earl of Eglinton, and in descent from whom is the
present Earl of Eglinton and Winton, Lord Montgomerie,
Ardrossan, Baron Seton and Tranent, etc.

4. Sir Thomas Seton of Olivestob.

5. Sir John Seton of St. Germains.

6. Lady Isabel Seton.

The Earls of Eglinton derive their family name from a hill-
fortress, called Montgomerie^ in the Diocese of Lisieux. Its
lord ranked high among the nobles of Normandy. The first

* The old parish of Seton, which remained intact until the Reforma-
tion, was thereafter annexed to the parish of Tranent. — McNeill : Hist.
of Tranent, p. 15.

f Freeman says : " The name of this castle enjoys a peculiar privilege
above all others in Norman geography. Other spots in Normandy have
given their names to Norman houses, and these Norman houses have trans-
ferred those names to English castles and English towns and villages. But
there is only one shire in Great Britain which has had the name of a Norman
lordship impressed upon it forever."

102 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1508

who came to England was Roger de Montgomerie. He com-
manded the van of the army at the decisive battle of Hastings,
and proudly styled himself "Northmannus Northmannorum. "
After the conquest he was made Earl of Shrewsbury, and given
no fewer than fifty-seven lordships. His descendants have
disappeared in England ; but one of them, Robert de Mont-
gomerie, during the movement of Normans into Scotland, in
the twelfth century, obtained the Manor of Eaglesham, in
Renfrewshire. It remained for two centuries the seat of the
familv, until John, the seventh Laird of Eaglesham, married
Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Hugh de Eglinton of
that Ilk, and obtained through her, who was niece to King
Robert II. , the important Baronies of Eglinton and Ardrossan.
These still abide in the familv, and the former gave the title
of Earl to the descendant of Sir Robert de Montgomerie in
1508. The male line of this family failed in 161 1, when
the honors and estates went to the last earl's nephew, third
son of the first Earl of Winton. Sir Alexander Seton, who
thus succeeded, was surnamed "Grey Steel," from his intrepid
character and quickness to draw his sword. His succession to
the great Earldom of Eglinton was hotly contested for a time;
but it can be said of him, as of another and later Scotchman :
"His spirit was so high that those who wished his death knew
that his courage was like his charity, and never turned any
man away." Sir Alexander Seton married Lady Ann Living-
ston, daughter of the first Earl of Linlithgow. Their fourth
son, James, a colonel in the army, was founder of the Mont-
gomeries of Coylsfield, one of whom succeeded as twelfth Earl
of Eglinton. It is to them that Burns alludes in his beautiful
poem, The Vision :

" There, where a sceptred Pictisli shade*
Stalk'd round his ashes lowly laid,

* Coilus, or Coil, King of the Picts, lies buried — so tradition says — near
the family seat of the Montgomeries of Coylsfield. Hence the name of

their estate.

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A.D. 1611] COUNTESS OF PERTH— OF BOTHWELL. 10s

I mark'd a martial race portray'd

In colours strong ;
Bold, soldier-featur'd, undismay'd

They strode along."

Ladv Isabel Seton was born 30th November, 1593, an<^ m^r-
ried first, 19th April, 1608, James Drummond, first Earl of
Perth, by whom she had one child, a daughter, who married
the thirteenth Earl of Sutherland ; secondly, 2d August,
1 6 14, Francis Stewart, eldest son of the attainted Earl of
Bothwell, by whom she had a daughter, Margaret, and a son,
Charles Stewart, born in 16 18, the prototype of Francis Both-
well, the dashing Cavalier in Old Mortality. Scot of Scot-
starvet, always gloating over the ruin of a noble house, savs
that he was " a trooper in the Civil Wars." Only a private
— but Sir Walter Scott, in a note on Sergeant Bothwell in
his tale, says that " Captain Crichton, the friend of Dean
Swift, who published his Memoirs, found him a private
gentleman in the kind's Life-Guards. At the same time,
this was no degrading condition; for Fountainhall records
a duel fought between a Life Guardsman and an officer
in the Militia, because the latter had taken upon him
to assume superior rank as an officer, to a gentleman-
private in the Life-Guards." Francis Stewart was, in
fact, third cousin to Charles II., whom he was serving.
The first earl of the Stewart line received this title from
James in 1587, "in consideration of his descent from
the Hepburns, Earls of Bothwell." His mother, Lady
Jane Hepburn, was the only daughter of Patrick, third
earl.

Lady Perth was a woman of superior education and strength
of character. She captivated the literary attention of the cel-
ebrated poet, William Drummond of Hawthornden, her hus-
band's kinsman, and a friend of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.
He corresponded with her, and wrote an epitaph in verse for

106 AN OLD FAMILY. [A.D.

the tomb of her first husband, who died at Seton, in his twen-
tieth year, on December 18, 1611.

There are fortunately preserved at Dunse Castle, County
Berwick, seat of a branch of the noble family of Hay, which
represents, through female descent, the Setons, Viscounts
Kingston, portraits of the first Earl of Winton, his Countess,
and Lady Isabel or Isabella Seton, their only daughter. It
was to this young girl that the Scottish poet, Alexander Mont-
gomerie, addressed a laudatory sonnet in 1607. These por-
traits are supposed to be copies by Jameson, who has joined
husband and wife, says Mr. Sharpe, from separate representa-
tions, very awkwardly, on one canvas. This is his opinion,
but it is not certain. *

The bird on Lady Isabella's hand is a " Love-parrot, ' '
the Psittacus Amazonicus of authors, at that time a rare and
expensive bird in Europe, and a favorite one with the chil-
dren of nobles. It was highly prized for its mimic propen-
sities ; and I have no doubt that it was brought from South
America by the same fellow — retiring to Port Seton after buc-
caneering on the Spanish Main — who gave the beautiful shell
subsequently made into a silver-mounted snufTbox. The Earl
of Winton died on the 22d of March, 1603, and by his
Latter Will, dated 28th February, 1603, he ordains " My
body to be buried whole in most humble, quiet, modest, and
Christian manner without all extraordinary pomp or unlawful
ceremony, within my College Church of Seton among my
progenitors of worthy memory." I suspect that by the words
unlawful ceremony, the staunch old Catholic nobleman wished
to say that he didn't want any Protestant interference or Kirk
rites about him after death, as he hadn't brooked them in life.
He was buried on Tuesday, April 5th, on the same dav that

* (Jeorge Jameson, called by Walpole {Anecdotes of Painting) the Van-
dyck of Scotland, was born in 1586, and studied under Rubens at Antwerp
in 1616.

1603] UNION OF THE KINGDOMS. 107

King James the Sixth of Scotland set out from Edinburgh
for London to become James First of England. And now a
singular thing happened, the more so that the simple tastes
of the late earl and his abhorrence of display at his funeral
were suddenly upset. Patrick Frazer Tytler thus moralizes
on the inauspicious occurrence in concluding his History of
Scotland :

" Yet, however pleased at this pacific termination of their long struggles,
the feelings with which his ancient people beheld the departure of their
prince, were of a melancholy nature ; and an event occurred on the same day
on which he set out, that made a deep impression upon a nation naturally
thoughtful and superstitious.

"As the monarch passed the house of Seton, near Musselburgh, he was
met by the funeral of Lord Seton, a nobleman of high rank ; which, with its
solemn movement and sable trappings, occupied the road, and contrasted
strangely and gloomily with the brilliant pageantry of the royal cavalcade.
The Setons were one of the oldest and proudest families of Scotland ; and
that lord, whose mortal remains now passed by, had been a faithful adherent
of the king's mother : whose banner he had never deserted, and in whose
cause he had suffered exile and proscription. The meeting was thought
ominous by the people. It appeared, to their excited imaginations, as if the
moment had arrived when the aristocracy of Scotland was about to merge in
that of Great Britain ; as if the Scottish nobles had finished their career of
national glory, and this last representative of their race had been arrested on
his road to the grave, to bid farewell to the last of Scotland's kings. As the
mourners moved slowly onward, the monarch himself, participating in these
melancholy feelings, sat down by the way-side, on a stone still pointed out
to the historical pilgrim ; nor did he resume his progress till the gloomy
procession had completely disappeared."

The u Roundle " (as it is called) at the foot of which the
king sat down — the word is a term of military engineering,
meaning a bastion of circular form — still exists; although,
unfortunately, it and the adjoining road were somewhat en-
croached upon when the North British Railway was con-
structed in 1845.

XXV. Robert, Second Earl of Winton. He was
born in 1583, and married Ann Maitland, only daughter of
John, Lord Thirlstane, Chancellor of Scotland, but by whom

io8

AN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d. 1620

he had no issue. In this disappointment he resigned his titles
and estates to his younger brother George, and died, in a
private station of life, in January, 1634.

XXVI. George, Third Earl of Winton. In 1620
he built the house of Winton from the foundation, which had
been burned by the English of old, and restored the park,
orchard, and gardens around it. It is supposed by some to
have been designed and built by Wallace, who was appointed

King's Master-Mason
for Scotland in 161 7;
but others ascribe it to the
celebrated Inigo Jones.
This " peculiar and
beautiful structure," as
Burton calls it, is but a
few miles from Seton,
and situated on a steep
embankment sloping
down to the valley of
the Tyne. Hunnewell {Lands of Scott) says that this ' ' Ja-
cobinian mansion ' was the original of Ravenwood in
the Bride of Lammermoor. There is, of course, a Ghost-
room in the upper part of the house; but I saw nothing
uncanny about it, twice that I was there. Another room,
called the u King's Chamber," was occupied by Charles I.
when he came to Scotland to be crowned in 1633. In 1630
Lord Winton built two quarters of the house of Seton, begin-
ning at Wallace's tower, which was all burned by the English,
and continued the building as far as Jacob's tower. Because
the house had been burned three times by the English during
the wars, and better times (as he thought) were now at hand,
he caused to be carved on a fine stone tablet " upon the
frontispiece of his new building ' a crown supported by a
thistle between two roses, being the cognizance of the two

THE ROUNDLE AT SETON.

A.D. 1639-48] THE CIVIL WAR. m

kingdoms : the emblem enigmatically signifying the Union
of Scotland and England. Under it he caused to be inscribed
in deep letters of gold this Latin verse :

" Unio Nunc Fatis Stoque Cadoque Tuis."

Mylne makes a note upon this, saying: "Ye Union was
ye cause of the familie's ruin, 17 16."

In 1639, at the commencement of the Scottish rebellion,
Lord Winton left the country and waited upon the king to
offer his loyal services, for which the rebels did him great
injury ; and thereafter all through the Civil War he was con-
stantly harassed. In 1645, when Montrose was in command
of the royal forces, the earl's oldest son, Lord Seton, joined
him, and was taken prisoner at the disastrous battle of Philip-
haugh, and remained long " in hazard of his life." When
King Charles II. came to Scotland in 1650, the Earl of
Winton was in continuous attendance on him, and died on
the 17th of December of the same year, while preparing to
be present at the coronation. Like his father, he suffered a
long series of petty persecutions from the Presbytery of Had-
dington on account of his attachment to the Catholic faith.
For instance, " Nov. 4, 1648, Presbyterv ordained to purge
the house of Setoun of popish servants, and to proceed both
against them and against the Earl of Wintoun if he protect
or resset them after admonition."

Lord Winton was twice married. By his first wife, Lady
Ann Hay, eldest daughter of the Earl of Erroll, he had five
sons and three daughters, of whom only three will find place
here, as the rest died young or unmarried. The family of
Hay is among the most ancient and illustrious in North
Britain. The long-accepted romantic and peasant origin given
by Hector Boece, good soul, is disproved by modern criticism,*

* Before the eighteenth century the origin — in the popular mind at least
— of very old families was always fabulous and fanciful. Even the early

112 AN OLD FA MILT. [a.D.

and the Hays are placed where they belong, among those Nor-
man adventurers of noble lineage who were invited to settle
in Scotland in the twelfth century. Sir Gilbert Hay, or de
la Haye, was a trusty companion of Bruce, by whom he was
made High Constable of Scotland in 13 15. The office,
noblest of all the hereditary dignities of the kingdom , continues
in the family, one of whom was created Earl of Erroll in
1453. The Marquess of Tweeddale, the Earl of Kinnoul,
Hay of Smithfield, Bart. (cr. 1635), Hay of Park, Bart. (cr.
1663), and Hay of Dunse Castle are nourishing Cadets of
this distinguished name.

The children of Lord Winton and Lady' Ann Hay were:

1. George, Lord Seton, of whom hereafter.

2. Alexander.

3. Elizabeth, who married in 1637 William, seventh Earl
Marischal, by whom she had four daughters, who were all
well married. She brought a large fortune to her husband,
and died in 1650.

By his second wife, Elizabeth Maxwell, only daughter of
the seventh Lord Herries, Lord Winton had six sons and six
daughters, of whom only the following are mentioned, the

history of the Colonnas and Orsinis, Joint Hereditary Assistant-Princes
to the Pontifical Throne, who claim to stand at the head of European aris-
tocracy, is a tissue of what Muratori calls favole sopra favole; and with
special reference to which — although the words may be applied to other fam-
ilies who still retain ridiculous pretensions — the historian of the Decline
and Fall says : " Some nobles, who glory in their domestic fables, may be
offended with his firm and temperate criticism ; yet surely some ounces of
pure gold are of more value than many pounds of base metal " (VIII., 220).
What Muratori did for the governing families of Italy, that "the learned
and indefatigable" Chalmers did for the historic families of Scotland.
Naturally the Setons did not escape this prevailing mania of legendary
extraction, and it was, at one time, seriously proposed to derive them from
the Sitones described by Tacitus (De Moribus Genu., XLV.). If I had
lived and written when Lord Kingston did, in 1687, I would have gone still
further back and started from Sethon, who is mentioned by Herodotus, and
who reigned over Lower Egypt circa B.C. 716.

1666] LORD TRAQUAIR. 113

others dying either young or unmarried, or without succes-
sion.

1. Christopher.

2. William.

u Two hopeful young gentlemen."*

Christopher was a great scholar. The brothers and a pre-
ceptor, while going u on their travels abroad, were cast away
at sea, upon the coasts of Holland in anno 1648."

3. John.

4. Robert, of whom hereafter among the Cadets.

5. Ann, married at Winton in April, 1654, to John Stuart,
second Earl of Traquair, by whom she had three sons and
one daughter, Elizabeth, who died, " a brave hopeful young
lady," at twenty years of age. "It is said that when Lord
Traquair married Lady Anne Seton, the Covenanters made
him stand at the kirk door of Dalkeith in the sack gown,
for marrying a papist; nevertheless, he died of that religion
himself, anno 1666." f

After the earl's conversion through his wife's influence, this
noble branch of the Stuarts remained consistently Catholic ;
and although the title became extinct by the death of the last
earl in 1861, Traquair House, the oldest inhabited mansion
in Scotland, descended by will at the death of his sister,
Lady Louisa Stuart, in 1875, to her distant kinsman the
Hon. Henry Constable-Maxwell, an English Catholic.

6. Mary, married to James Dalzell, fourth Earl of Carn-
wath, by whom she had a daughter, also named Mary, who
married Lord John Hay, second son of the Marquess of
Tweeddale, a brigadier-general under the Duke of Marl-
borough.

XXVII. George, Lord Seton. He was born 15th
May, 16 1 3, and married, in 1639, Lady Henrietta Gordon,
daughter of the Marquess of Huntly, by whom he had four
* Kingston : Continuation. \ Border Antiquities.

H4 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

sons, of whom George succeeded his grandfather as fourth
Earl of Winton, and the others died young or without issue.
Lord Seton suffered great hardships at the hands of the rebels
during the Civil War, and died prematurely at Seton on 4th
June, 1648. His coat-of-arms appears in the beautiful large
memorial window to the Great Marquess of Montrose, in Saint
Giles' Church, Edinburgh, as one of the companions of that
illustrious commander.

XXVIII. George, Fourth Earl of Winton. He
was on the Continent for his studies, a bov of under ten years
of age, when he succeeded to the title and estates in 1650.
Notwithstanding his youth, a heavy fine was imposed on him
by Cromwell's Act of Grace and Pardon. His tutor and
uncle was Lord Kingston, by whom he was brought up u in
the true Protestant religion," thus severing the long attach-
ment of his family to the Catholic Church. u June 19th,
1656, Lord Kingston reported to the Presbytery by order of
the Synod that Lord Winton had hitherto been educated in
the Protestant Religion and his education should still be care-
fully attended to."*

Lord Winton was accomplished in the knowledge of arms,
and gave proof of his skill and gallantry at the siege of Besan-
eon, in France, in 1660. Returning to England with a
brilliant reputation, he was well received by Charles II. and
sworn of the Privy Council, and given command of the East
Lothian regiment of foot against the Covenanters in 1666;
and in 1679 commanded the same regiment " upon his
own charges, with all his vassals, in noble equipage, in his
Majestie's army of 14,000 men," at Bothwell Bridge, where
the rebels were totally defeated. After the battle he enter-

* Communicated by Rev. Dr. Struthers, Minister of Prestonpans, in 1861,
and a " most accurate and intelligent antiquary." He took special interest
in everything- connected with the Seton family. I can never forget his kind-
ness to mvself.

1679-1693] AT BOTHWELL BRIDGE. 115

tained the Duke of Monmouth and all the Scotch and English
officers with magnificent hospitality at Seton. In May, 1682,
he accompanied the Duke of York from London to Edinburgh
in the u Gloucester" frigate, which was wrecked, with great
loss of life, on Yarmouth Sands. An interesting letter written
to Mr. Hewer from Edinburgh, Monday, May 8, 1682, on
this disaster, at which he was present, is found in the corre-
spondence of Samuel Pepys. In 1685 Lord Winton was ap-
pointed by King James II. to the high office of Grand Master
of the Household ; and in the same year Professor Sinclair
presented him with a curious and rare work entitled Satan s
Invisible IVorld Discovered-, or A Choice Collection of Relations
anent Devils, Spirits, Witches and Apparitions . *

The lengthy " Epistle Dedicatory" is in a vein of exagger-
ated praise, somewhat relieved by a description of the earl's
coal-mining operations, in which he brings in the name of
Athanasius Kircher, the Jesuit, whom most people have heard
of only through the Kircherian Museum in the Roman College,
at Rome, but who was one of the first natural philosophers
and scientists of the age. This earl did much to improve his
property and incidentally to benefit the public. He built a
new harbor at Cockenzie, called " Port Seton," which still
exists by this name, and has recently revived and come into
favor with Edinburgh people as a summer resort. It is now
of sufficient importance to find a place on the indexed Map
of Scotland published at Chicago by Rand, McNally & Co.f
In 1691-93 he was journeying in Holland, and is found at
Amsterdam and at Leyden, where he met travellers and
learned men in whose company he delighted, as he was much
given to mathematics and phvsical science.

Nisbet says of this nobleman that " he imitated the extra-
ordinary loyalty of his ancestors ; none of them having ever
been guilty of treason or rebellion, nor addicted to avarice,

* Reprinted at Edinburgh in 187 1. f Cockenzie and Port Seton

have now together a population of 1,57s inhabitants.

lib AN OLD FAMILY. [A.D.

nor found with lands of the Church in their possession."
He married Christian, daughter and heiress of John Hepburn
of Adiston, "an ancient baron in East Lothian, who since
King Robert Bruce were heritable standard bearers to the
House of Seton." By her he had two sons: George, Lord
Seton, of whom hereafter; and Christopher, who " was cut
off by death, 5th. Jan., 1705, to the great regret of all that
knew him. " ';;

The Countess of Winton died in 1703, and the earl on the
6th of March, 1704.

XXIX. George, Fifth and Last Earl of Winton.
He was abroad on his travels when his parents died, and u no
man knew where to find him, till accident led to the discov-
ery." Macky's Memoirs say that he "was at Rome when
his father died " : and did not return to Scotland until several
vears after his succession to the earldom, much to the detri-
ment of his house and estate, which were dilapidated by sun-
dry kinsmen during this protracted and wilful absence.
He seems, like all his family, to have been given to study and
researches of some kind, and to travel; and in 1708 Robert
Calder, a minister of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, dedi-
cated to him his edition of the Genuine Epistles of St. Ignatius.
He was one of the first Scottish noblemen who plaved an
active part in the " Rising" of 17 15, to restore the exiled
family to the throne. " He took with him three hundred
men to the standard of James Stuart ; but he appears to have
carried with him a fiery and determined temper, — the accompa-
niment, perhaps, of noble qualities, but a dangerous attribute
in times of difficulty. "f

The Scottish armv, having advanced into England against
Lord Winton's advice, capitulated at Preston, in Lancashire,
after a fierce engagement on Monday, 14th November, 1 7 1 5.

■•' Mylne in a note to Nisbet.

4- Thomson : Memoirs of the Jacobites, II., 12.

171 5] THE "RISING." 117

Among the seventy-five " prisoners of quality " who sur-
rendered there were, besides the head of the family, George
Seton of Barnes, titular Earl of Dunfermline, and Sir George
Seton of Garleton, Baronet. Winton was carried to London
and lodged in the Tower. He was tried apart from the other
noblemen, having pleaded " Not guilty " — the only one who
had the courage and consistency to do so, as it would have
been unworthy of a Seton to acknowledge himself (even con-
structively) a traitor and throw himself on the mercy of King
George. The other Scotch lords were the Earl of Nithsdale,
Earl of Carnwath, Viscount Kenmure, and Baron Nairn.
The young Earl of Derwentwater, an English Catholic in-
volved in the same catastrophe, having pleaded " guilty " at
his trial (which, however, did not avail to save him), was
induced by the priest who attended him on the scaffold, and
hesitated about giving him absolution, to retract the plea.
This he did. To plead " guilty " was looked upon by strict
theologians as a repudiation of one's lawful sovereign —
James III. Lord Winton defended himself with spirit and
ability ; but, of course, was condemned to death. It was
the 19th of March, 17 16. His sentence was such a foregone
conclusion that he laughed in the face of the Lord High
Steward, who presided — Sir William (afterward Earl) Cowper,
telling him: " I hope you will do me justice, and not make
use of Coupar-law, as we used to say in our country : ' Hang
a man first and then trv him.' He was punning on the

name of Cowper, which was pronounced Cooper, the same as
Cupar, the Fifeshire town, which was also sometimes written
Cowper. To understand this joke, one must know that the
old cross of Macduff", in Fife, was a famous sanctuary and
that those " claiming the privilege of the Law of Clan Mac-
duff were required to appear afterwards before the judges
assembled at Cowper in Fife " ; but by a sort of anticipatory
Lynch Law, the criminal or suspected criminal who had run

n8 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1749

to the Cross did not always (after leaving sanctuary) live to
reach Cupar and have a fair trial : he was hanged before he
got there. Lord Winton's character was very original, and
he was calumniated by enemies and misunderstood by friends,
as though his plea and defence, so peculiar to himself, were
signs of an unbalanced mind. Sir Walter Scott refutes these
insinuations: " But, if we judge from his conduct in the re-
bellion, Lord Winton appears to have displayed more sense
and prudence than most of those engaged in that unfortunate
affair." * While lying in the Tower under sentence, a trusty
servant managed to furnish him with a file or other small in-
strument (some say it was only a watch-spring), with which
he contrived to cut through the window-bars of his cell and
escaped. This was on Saturday, August 4, 17 16, about 9
o'clock at night. The earl got safe to France, and ultimately
made his way to Rome, where all misfortune finds a balm.
He is supposed to have died there, unmarried, on the 19th of
December, 1749, when over seventy years of age. The last
time we hear of him, brings back to our minds with pathetic
interest the love of these Scottish exiles for their native land
and how they would foregather in poverty and distress, keep-
ing up brave hearts, to talk over old times and sing the songs
of other days: " Walked two hours with Lord Dunbar in the
gardens, and afterwards went to the coffee-house to which
Lord Winton resorted, and several others of his stamp, and
there fell a-singing old Scots songs, and were very merry, "f
It is not known where Lord Winton is buried, although
several of his name and family have made search. I have
heard two traditions which converge substantially to the same
conclusion : one that he returned to Scotland in disguise, and
died there unknown, except to very few; the other, that he

* Tales of a Grandfather, Ch. LXVIII.

f From article in the Gentleman' s Magazine for June, 1853, entitled " A
Visit to Rome in 1736," by Alexander Cunyngham, M.D.

a. D. 1750] END OF THE JVINTONS. 121

died in the Catholic faith, in obscurity, at Ormiston. I notice
this, only because some writers have said emphatically that he
died a Protestant, as if they knew anything about it. The
original of the illustration I give is in the possession of Sir
Alan Henry Seton-Steuart, Bart. It has a stern and reso-
lute expression, indicative of an uncompromising character,
which he was. " Thus terminated," says Sir Robert Doug-
las, " one of the principal houses in Great Britain, after sub-
sisting for upwards of 600 years in East Lothian, and from
thence spreading into several flourishing branches in Scot-
land." *

There have been claimants to the Winton peerage, but they
have not succeeded. In 1825 a young man named George
Seton appeared at Edinburgh and called for the honors —
the estates had been confiscated, sold, and dispersed; and
although he probably was the grandson of the fifth Earl of
Winton, the want of a certificate of marriage between his
grandfather and Margaret McKlear, daughter of a Scotch
physician, settled his claim adversely. There is still, how-
ever, in this matter, subject for another chapter to Burke's
Romance of the Peerage. Her gracious Majesty, Queen Vic-
toria, was pleased to reverse the attainder of the Scotch in-
surgent lords ; and in 1859 Archibald-William Montgomerie,
thirteenth Earl of Eglinton, was created Earl of Winton in
the peerage of the United Kingdom. The late Sir John
Hope, Bart., one afternoon while we were driving down
from Pinkie House to Seton, related that Eglinton told him
of his having been offered a marquessate on resigning the
Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, but that he preferred the Win-
ton honors ; and yet that he did not care so much for the
title of Earl of Winton, but that he did want to be Lord
Seton, and was mortified at the opposition to his coveted claim
of this ancient barony. In fact, there is a strong opinion,

* Peerage, II., 64S.

122 AN OLD FAMILY.

shared even by some distinguished genealogists, that his Winton
honors must be looked upon as a new creation, and " a very
improper one" under the circumstances. The late Sir Wil-
liam Fraser, a peerage lawyer — author of Memorials of the
Montgomeries — tried to impress upon me that every existing
collateral branch of the Seton family had been sought out,
studied, and excluded from the succession by a process of
elimination which, with the certainty of a problem in algebra,
left the Eglintons the only possible heirs. Others are not
quite so certain; especially as Seton, at least, was probably a
female barony, i.e., descendible to females to the exclusion of
male heirs related in a remoter degree.

The late Mr. Riddell, whom my father knew at Edinburgh
over forty years ago, says in his Peerage Law, I., 49, that
" the House of Seton or Winton, on account of its great con-
nections and ramifications, besides the antiquity of its descent,
would seem now to be the noblest in Scotland. Thev were
a fine specimen in many respects of a high baronial family,
from the magnificence and state they maintained at their
' Palace of Seton ' — expressly so called in royal grants under
the sign-manual, and identified with the memory of Queen
Mary — their consistency, loyalty, and superior advancement
to their countrymen in the arts and civilized habits of society."

The name of Seton has disappeared from the Peerage, but
so have other even greater ones. Yet the name of SETON
can never be forgotten so long as the history of Scotland will
be read and so long as the story of the Stuarts shall fascinate
the minds of men.

CHAPTER VI.

SETON, EARL OF DUNFERMLINE, I555 — 1694.

I. Alexander, First Earl of Dunfermline. Alexan-
der Seton was the third surviving son of George, seventh
Lord Seton, and Isabel Hamilton, his wife. In the group
portrait by More, he is the youth looking up at his father,
with the initials A. S. and the number 14 above his head.
These mean "Alexander Seton, aged fourteen years." He
was born in 1555. His Christian name was chosen bv Queen
Mary herself, who was his god-mother, and gave him lands
in Moray for his support. For this reason and for his blood
relationship to the Stuarts, he is called by an Italian author
" a near relative of the Oueen of Scots," where he says, of
the confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament originally estab-
lished in the Church of Sant' Andrea delle Fratte :

Dipoi si dono ritirati per maggior commodita in una casa ; ove era lo
spedale delli Scozzesi ; ed ivi cantano li loro offitii, e fanno le congregationi
necessarie. Questo luogo overo Spedale gli e stato concesso dall' Illustriss.
Signor Alisandro Sitonio, Scotto, parente stretto della Regina di Scotia. —
Fanuci : Opere Pie di Roma, ch. 39, p. 299, Rome, 1601.

He went to Rome for his studies, intending to take Orders,
but he certainly never did so. His early life there is summed
up in a few lines by Lord Kingston :

" He was sent by his father when he was young to Rome, rinding him of
a great spirit, intending att that time to make him a churchman. Att Rome,
he was bred young in the Roman colledge of the Jesuites, wher he excelled
in learning. He declaimed, not being 16 years of age, ane learned oration
of his own composing, De Ascensione Domini, on that festivall day, publickly
before the Pope, Gregory the 13th, the cardinall, and other prelats present,

124 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

in the pope's chapel in the Vatican, with great applause. He was in great
esteem at Rome for his learning, being a great humanist in prose and
poecie, Greek and Latine ; well versed in the mathematicks, and had great
skill in architecture and herauldrie. I was told att Rome, if he had stayed
ther, it was not doubted but he had been Cardinall."

While at Rome he obtained from Queen Mary the Priory of
Pluscardin, of which his father had been CEconomus and Com-
missioner since the 17th of April, 1561. " The grant was de-
clared to be as effectual as if he had been provided to the bene-
fice at the Court of
/ / /] C Rome, according to the

n I I si A/1 /* C II A ' order observit in tymes

J~i K # / W/LLul/i^^ \ past."* In Some char-

\ ^ . ters he is styled Commen-

datarius perpetuus monaste-

SIGNATURE OF LORD CHANCELLOR SETON. r x

{Alexander Cancellarius.~\ Vl'l (k PluSCardlfl. There

are difficulties in recon-
ciling his holding of this Church property with his favor at
Rome, his substantial adherence to the Catholic faith, and
the manner he is spoken of by contemporary Catholic writers
who understood all the circumstances of such a case after the
change of religion and the subversion of the Church in Scot-
land. It is not, however, evidence, but mere denunciation
on the part of the Anglican editors of the new edition of Sir
Henry Spelman's Fate of Sacrilege, which includes him in that
awful crime. Pluscardin followed the Cistercian rule. It
has recently been purchased from the Duke of Fife by Lord
Bute, under whose generous and Catholic impulse it will
again, I have understood, become a living monastic institu-
tion. Owing to the civil and religious disturbances in Scot-
land, young Seton abandoned his intention of taking Orders
and went to France, where his father was Ambassador, to
study law. On returning to Scotland a few years later he

*Hailes: Senators of the Col. of Just., p. 19S.

ALEXANDER SETON, FIRST EARL OF DUNFERMLINE.

{Aet. 55.]

(Original by Zuccaro, at Yester.)

1 585-1605] LORD CHANCELLOR OF SCOTLAND. 127

was taken into favor by King James, who in 1585 made
him an Extraordinary Lord of Session, and in 1587 raised
him to the peerage by the title of Lord Urquhart. He be-
came President of the College of Justice in 1593, and on tne
9th of January, 1596, was appointed one of the Octavians,
or Commissioners of Exchequer, and their presiding officer.*
For ten successive years he was Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
and kept wonderfully good order in the town. On March 4,
1598, he was created Baron Fyvie, and soon afterward in-
trusted with the education of the king's second son, who lived
to become Charles I. In October, 1604, Lord Fyvie and
the other Scotch Commissioners went to London to confer
upon the union of the two kingdoms, then projected, and a
favorite measure of King James.

In 1605 Lord Fyvie was made Earl Dunfermline and Lord
Chancellor of Scotland, being the last Catholic to hold that
high office. It is known how cordially the Scotch were dis-
liked in England. Sir Henry Yelverton, M.P., having
spoken disrespectfully of the Scottish nation and of its Chan-
cellor, who is described as u a Seton, a man of magnificent
tastes, and most dignified and astute character," was obliged
to go down on his knees and ask pardon, f In 16 11 the
Earl was made " Keeper of Holyrood House during life."
This gave him the right to an apartment in the royal palace.
The keepership is now hereditary in the family of the
Duke of Hamilton. The same year of his advancement
to the rank of Earl and to the office of Chancellor, Father
James Seton, S.J., wrote, September 30, 1605, to Father
Claudius Aquaviva, General of the Society of Jesus, as fol-
lows :

* This body was a finance committee of eight upright and learned men,
who from their number were called " The King's Octavians." — BOrton :
History of Scotland, V., 299.

f Chambers : Book of Days, I., 88.

128 AN OLD FAMILY.

" Fr. James Seton to Fr. C. Aquaviva, General of the Society of Jesus.

"Very Rev. Father in Christ, — The persecution in Scotland does not
cease or lessen since the departure of the King. The government is en-
tirely in the hands of the Lord Alexander Seton, whom the King has made
Farl of Dunfermline, and who is favorably known to your Paternity. He
is, or should be, abbot of that place, where there was once a famous monas-
tery. He was formerly President of the Council, and is now Chancellor of
the Kingdom. The Viceroy is the Earl of Montrose, the President of the
Council the Lord James Elphinston, brother of Father George ; but they
are all directed by Lord Alexander Seton. He is a Catholic, as is also the
Lord President and the Royal Advocate. In political wisdom, in learning,
in high birth, wealth, and authority, he possesses far more influence than
the rest, and his power is universally acknowledged."

The Earl of Dunfermline was distinguished for his archi-
tectural skill, his love of heraldic decorations, inscriptions,
and works of art. His wealth enabled him to gratify these
patrician tastes. Some fragments of his poetry are still ex-
tant, particularly two elegant Latin epigrams prefixed to his
friend Bishop Lesley's History of Scotland, and another ad-
dressed to Sir John Skene on the publication of his Regiam
Majestatetn. He also wrote a sonnet on the chivalrous Sir
Philip Sidney, which is printed in a little volume published at
London in 1587. His literary taste was acknowledged by
everyone, and his approbation was sought by many. Tytler,
in his Life of Sir Thomas Craig, calls the Chancellor ' ' a pat-
ron of men of letters"; and in 16 17 a Scotch worthy, the
famous John Napier of Merchistoun, inventor of logarithms,
dedicated to him his latest work in nattering terms. Lord
Dunfermline died at Pinkie on June 16, 1622, in the sixty-
seventh year of his age, " with the regret of all who knew
him, and the love of his country," says Lord Kingston. He
was buried with much solemnity at Dalgety, where he pos-
sessed a country seat, which he had repaired and beautified
with gardens running down to the water's edge. The pic-
turesque old church and adjoining habitation are now only
an ivy-clad ruin. It was dedicated to Saint Brigid. Father

A.D. 1622] DEATH OF THE CHANCELLOR. 131

Forbes-Leith, S.J., in his Narratives of Scottish Catholics, thus
translates the summing up and opinion of Conn, De Duplici
Statu Religionis apud Scotos, about this greatest man who has
ever borne our ancient and widely extended name :

" Alexander Seton, fourth son of George Lord Seton, and Isabel Hamil-
ton, had resided long- at Rome, where he was much esteemed for his virtue
and piety, and on his return to Scotland he was held in high honour, no less
on account of his illustrious origin than for his prudence. lie was much
loved by the King, from whom he received valuable grants of land. After
having been appointed President of the High Court of Justice, he sub-
sequently became Chancellor of Scotland, in which high office he acquired
such a wide-spread reputation for justice and integrity that, on the occasion
of his funeral, all classes vied with one another in exhibiting every mark of
respect and sorrow for the loss the nation had sustained. Four years before
his death, in presence of a numerous assembly of Catholics, attended by the
ringleaders of the Puritan faction and many other Protestants after affirming
that he had never ceased to hold the doctrine of the orthodox Church, he
declared that nothing gave him greater pain than to recollect how he had
shown himself lukewarm and remiss in his profession of faith, in order to
ingratiate himself with his Sovereign. When he had thus spoken with tears
in his eyes, he called the assembly to witness that he would die in the profes-
sion of the Roman Catholic faith."

In 1662 a poem was printed by the heirs of one Andrew
Hart, entitled " Tears for the Death of Alexander, Earle of
Dunfermline, Lord Chancellor of Scotland." It has been
edited by James Maidment, Esq., and reprinted for the Ban-
natvne Club. Mr. George Seton published in 1882 an
illustrated Memoir of this nobleman, and tells us (p. 183) that
Dempster refers to a life of the Chancellor, in Latin, by
William Seton, his kinsman, which the author intended to
publish. Mr. Seton also speaks of an image of the Blessed
Virgin Mary mentioned in the inventory of his effects. If
this could be traced and found, it would be of greater value,
in some eyes, than " the large number of valuable jewels
(including upwards of five hundred diamonds) and a liberal
supply of goldsmith's work and silver plate ' which he
possessed.

132 JN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1 60 1

Lord Dunfermline was thrice married.

Bv his first wife, Lilias, daughter of Patrick, Lord Dru Al-
mond, whom he wedded about 1592, he had only daughters,
of whom Isabel married the first Earl of Lauderdale, son
of Chancellor Maitland, Lord Thirlstane ; and Sophia mar-
ried the first Lord Lindsay of Balcarres, ancestor of the Earl
of Crawford.

By his second wife, a Leslie of Rothes, whom he married
in 1 60 1, he had a daughter Jean or Jane, who married the
eighth Lord Yester and first Earl of Tweeddale. Lady
Yester was remarkably handsome. Her picture is preserved
at Yester House, Haddingtonshire, the seat of the Marquess
of Tweeddale, where also are other Seton portraits.

By his third wife, Hon. Margaret Hay, he had a son
Charles, who succeeded him.

II. Charles, Second Earl of Dunfermline. He was
born in 1608, and took an active part in public affairs during
the reigns of Charles I. and II. By the former he was ap-
pointed a Privy Councillor and by the latter Lord Privy Seal ;
yet by some lamentable perversity, contrary to all the tradi-
tions of his family, he became a zealous adherent of the Cove-
nant, and was high in the confidence of his party.

Like some other chief men of their faction, he became dis-
gusted with much that the Covenanters did, and gradually
came around to the side of the Royalists, to which he natu-
rally belonged. After the execution of the king he went
to Holland and waited on Charles II., with whom he returned
to Scotland in 1650.

Lord Dunfermline married Lady Mary Douglas (who died
at Fyvie in 1659), daughter of the seventh Earl of Morton,
by whom he had a daughter and three sons :

1. Henrietta, married, first, at Dalgetv, in September,
1670, William Fleming, sixth Earl of Wigton, a title which
expired with her son, the seventh earl, who died unmarried

tjp^

a.d. 1694] END OF THE DUNFERMLINES. 135

in 1747; and, secondly, to the sixteenth Earl of Craw-
ford.

2. Charles, Lord Fyvie, born in 1640, who was killed in a
sea-fight with the Dutch in 1672.

3. Alexander, third earl.

4. James, fourth earl.

Lord Dunfermline died at Seton in January, 1673, and
was nobly interred at his burial-place in Dalgety.

III. Alexander, Third Earl of Dunfermline. Born
in 1642, he succeeded his father, and died at Edinburgh at
the early age of thirty-three. Was buried at Dalgety.
Dying unmarried, he was succeeded by his brother.

IV7. James, Fourth and Last Earl of Dunfermline.
He was born in 1644, and being a younger son went abroad
and took service for some years as an officer of a Scotch regi-
ment serving u under the States of Holland, where he behaved
himself gallantly," says Lord Kingston in his Continuation,
p. 67. Some time afterward he returned to Scotland, and in
1682 married Lady Jane Gordon, daughter to Lewis, third
Marquess of Huntly.

At the Revolution he took the part of King James, with the
accustomed loyalty and devotion of the Setons, and com-
manded a troop of horse at the battle of Killiecrankie in 1689.
It was a victory, but bought at a great price, for the com-
mander of the royal army was killed. '•' " When last seen in
the battle, Dundee, accompanied only by the Earl of Dun-
fermline and about sixteen gentlemen, was entering into
the cloud of smoke, standing up in his stirrups, and waving
to the others to come on. It was in this attitude that he
appears to have received his death wound." f

Outlawed and forfeited by Parliament in 1690, the earl
went to France and joined the king at Saint Germains, where

* The celebrated John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee,
f Aytoun : Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers, p. Si.

136 AN OLD FAMILY.

he was invested with the Order of the Thistle. He died
there without issue, on the 26th of December, 1694, and with
him ended the line and peerage of Dunfermline. Macaulay
singles him out as a peculiarly atrocious example of King
James's bigotry and ingratitude in his exile, but the affair is
deeply colored by the historian for the sake of Whiggery and
fine writing.

CHAPTER VII.

SETON, VISCOUNT KINGSTON, l62I — 1 726.

I. Alexander Seton, second son of the third Earl of Win-
ton, was born in 162 1. He was a precocious youth, and
when King Charles I. visited Seton in 1633, welcomed his
Majesty in a Latin oration. He acquitted himself so well
that when he had finished the king knighted him. Being
only twelve years old, the king thought proper to admonish
him, saying: "Now, Sir Alexander, see this does not spoil
your studies; by appearance you will be a scholar." Then
spoke he: "No, please your Majesty, it shall not." In
1636 Sir Alexander was sent to France, and immediately
went to the college of La Fleche, conducted by the Jesuits,
where he studied philosophy two years.

He defended his thesis publicly in the said colledge from 10 to halfe 12
in the forenoon and two till half four in the afternoon, he and another fyne
gentleman of quality, having a throne layed with carpets, erected for them,
in the school, with a cover of crimson taffity above their heads and courtanes
drawen about them. Which thesiss were printed in whyte satine, with the
full armes of the House of Seton, with one oration dedicatory, on the head
of them ; he sent them home to my Lord, his father, being dedicat to him.
— Kingston : Continuation, p. 81.

After this he went to Italy, where he lived a year; then
sailed from Leghorn in an English vessel, which brought him
to Alicante, in Spain, whence he went to the Court at Madrid
and remained there seven months. From Spain he embarked
at San Sebastian, and in seven days reached Rochelle; then
travelled all that summer through great part of France. Com-

138 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

ing to England in 1640, he went at once to Court, where he
was cordially received by King Charles I., who sent him to
Scotland with important despatches, and instructed Sir Henry
Vane to give him every facility for his journey, with an order
on the Governor of Berwick to press a ship or barque for him
for Scotland if so he desired.

To escape the importunities of the Covenanters he retired
to Holland in 1643, wnere ne resided eight months, but on
returning to Scotland was excommunicated by the Kirk
Assembly, in Tranent Church, in October of the same year,
u by the mouth of Mr. Robert Ballcanquaill, minister thereof. "
After this, Sir Alexander had to go to France by sea in the
winter time, being twice in imminent danger of shipwreck,
not daring to go through England because the Scotch rebel-
lious army was in the country. He attended upon the Prince
of Wales (afterward Charles II.) until 1647, wnen ne went
to London, where he was frequently with the king at Hamp-
ton Court. When the king had escaped, incognito, to the
Isle of Wight, Sir Alexander was the first of his loyal subjects
who waited upon him there ; and being told to return to
France with a verbal message for the queen, he brought with
him "three gallant horses, resolving to present them to the
Prince of Wales." By good fortune there was lying in the
Thames u a Scots vessel, the master being of his acquaint-
ance, bound for France." On this he took passage, and to
facilitate his voyage the king gave him a special safe con-
duct, written in French, in which he particularly requested
the Dunkirkers not to molest him. In three days he was at
St. Germains, where he stayed two days, and after receiving
the letters of the queen and prince, u delivered them to the
King in the isle of Wight, the 12th day thereafter, being the
20th day of December, the said vear. " He then went into
Scotland, and was made Lieutenant-Colonel of Horse in the
unfortunate army levied there for the king's relief. In 1651,

1651] A STAUNCH ROYALIST. 139

a few days after Charles II. 's coronation at Scone, he was
pleased to grant to Sir Alexander, for his loyalty, painstaking,
and services " done to his Majesties' father, of blessed mem-
ory, and himself, a patent with the title of honour of Vis-
count, being the first title of honour he gave to any after his
coronation, not having made a knight before that time." Sir
Alexander was then in command of Tantallon Castle, which
Oliver Cromwell was besieging. When a large breach had
been made by the guns, and the wall fallen into the dry ditch,
the place was doomed ; but the gallant captain — Sir Alexander
— retreated fighting, until he got his men in the tower, and
then surrendered only on promise of quarter. He afterward
joined the royal army and fought at Worcester, where it was
totally defeated on the 3d of September following.

During the subsequent troubles in Scotland, he had a
regiment, and fought against the rebels at Pentland Hills and
at Bothwell Brig. He commanded the East Lothian levies
for fourteen years. Kingston was a typical cavalier, and
although he saved his head under the Commonwealth, he
li died poor, having spent both his own estate and his lady's,"
says Sir George Mackenzie in a manuscript Account of Scottish
Families in the British Museum. He is the author of the
Continuation to Maitland's History of the House of Seton.

Lord Kingston married, first, Jane, daughter of Sir George
Fletcher, Kt.,* by whom he had one daughter, who married
James, third Lord Mordington, a title created in 164.1- for Sir
James Douglas, second son of William, tenth Earl of Angus,
and which expired with the death of Mary, Baroness Mor-
dington in her own right, on 22d July, 1791.

-* The family of Fletcher, now of Salton Hall, East Lothian (an estate
acquired in 1643), rose to distinction in the person of Sir Andrew Fletcher
of Innerpeffer and Beucleo, in the County of Forfar, who was an. eminent
lawyer, and one of the Senators of the College of Justice in 1623. His de-
scendants have maintained a high place among the landed gentry of Scot-
land.

140 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

He married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Archibald
Douglas of Whittinghame, in the County of Haddington, of
whom she became eventually the heiress. They had nine
children : Charles, George, Alexander, Archibald, John,
James, Isabel, Barbara, and Elizabeth. Of these, Charles,
Master of Kingston, died unmarried in the lifetime of his
father. George also died a young man, while serving as
captain in Douglas's Regiment in the French service. Archi-
bald lived to be second, and James third Viscount. Elizabeth
married the Hon. William Hav of Drumelzier, which event-
ually brought Whittinghame Tower to that family. It is
now owned by the brilliant statesman, Rt. Hon. Arthur
James Balfour, M.P.

Alexander was li a distinguished scholar, who died young."
The others also died young.

II. Archibald, Second Viscount Kingston. Died un-
married in 1 7 14.

III. James, Third and Last Viscount Kingston. He
began life as an ensign in the regiment of Scottish Fusiliers
about 1687. Three years afterward, 16th of August, 1690,
he and a kinsman were accused of stopping the post-boy
between Cockburnspath and Haddington, and robbing the
mail for political reasons, as being Setons they were also
Jacobites of course. Dr. Chambers, in his Domestic Annals
of Scotland, gives a long account of the affair, which took a
very curious turn, and the young men finally escaped convic-
tion. For his part in the " Rising" of 17 15 Lord Kingston
was attainted by act of Parliament, and his estates and honors
forfeited to the Crown. He married Lady Anne Lindsay,
daughter of the third Earl of Balcarres, but had no issue.
He fled to the Continent and died there in 1726, and with
him terminated this branch of the Setons.

The heirs of line of the Kingston family are the Havs of
Dunse Castle. Margaret Hay, granddaughter of Hon. Eliza-

1726] END OF THE KINGSTONS. 141

beth Seton and the Hon. William Hay of Drumelzier, mar-
ried Sir Henry Seton of Culbeg, Bart., who served with the
British troops in America in the middle of the last century.

These Hays have in their possession many Seton papers,
portraits, and heirlooms. It may be interesting also to remem-
ber that their ancient town and castle has given a name to the
Doctor Subt'rfis — the subtle doctor — John Duns Scotus, who
was born there, and died in Cologne in 1308. These Hays
are cousins of the Setons of Abercorn.

CHAPTER VIII.

SETON OF GARLETON, BART., 1639— 1769.

I. The Hon. Sir John Seton, a younger son of the third
Earl of Winton, was born on 29th September, 1639, and was
created a baronet on 9th of December, 1664. He got in
patrimony the lands of Garleton * and Athelstaneford, in Had-
dingtonshire. He married Christian, daughter of Sir John
Home of Renton, f and had ten children. George succeeded
his father; Robert, of whom hereafter; Margaret, entered a
nunnery at Paris, and died there. Sir John was a virtuous
man, and strongly attached to the ancient faith. He died in
1686, and was buried in Athelstaneford church.

There is a portrait of him at Dunse Castle.

In 1889 Mr. Brown, librarian of the Society of Antiquaries,
at Edinburgh, kindly showed me a curious and very rare little
book, entitled An Ansiver to Monsieur De Ho don s Funeral of

* The picturesque ruins of the old tower and castle are on the Garleton
Hills, some two miles from Haddington. The place was formerly called
Garmvlton and Gairmiltoun, whence by corruption Garleton.

-j- Sir John Home of Renton, one of the Senators of the College of Justice,
was created a baronet in 1698. This baronetcy is now extinct (or dormant ?).
He married Margaret, daughter of John Stewart, Commendator of Colding-
ham and son of Francis, Earl of Bothwell. The tower of Renton (Berwick-
shire) figured a good deal in the wars of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ;
but only the foundations of it can now be traced. Home is an old, cele-
brated, and historical family of Scotland. The founder was descended from
the Earls of Dunbar and March, who themselves were sprung from the
Saxon princes of Northumberland. The head of the family is the Earl of
Home. The name is pronounced — for no satisfactory reason — as if written
II lime.

A.D. 1681] REPLY TO "FUNERAL OF THE MASS." 143

the Mass, by N. N., at Douay,in France, 168 '/.* It is a small
8vo, of 137 pages, and is dedicated to the first Garleton baro-
net. The author is unknown, but I would suppose him to
be a Jesuit, from the emblem of the Society engraved on the
title-page. In Oliver's Collections the author is surmised to be
Father William Aloysius Lesley.

The Epistle Dedicatory is as follows :

To the Honourable, Sir JOHN SETON OF GARLETON, son to
Lord George, Late Earl of Winton.

Sir, — The great Obligations, I had to your Honour afore I parted from
Scotland, claim with much reason to some Fruit of my labour. Be pleased
then to accept of a little work of mine from Flanders.

I am confident the subject will please you, because it is suitable to your
Devotion and to the piety of your most Noble and ancient Family.

Our Saviour by the occasion of the Jews seeking him for Bread, spoke
to them of the Bread of Life, and I, by the occasion of three sheafs of Corn,
I find in your Scutchion, or in the Honours of your House, will speak to
you, in reference to the Subject of this little Book, of the Bread, termed by
the Church, the Bread of the Strong, I mean of the most Holy Sacrifice, and
Sacrament of the Altar.

Ligor ne dispergar sayes your motto, I am bound lest L scatter, your
glorious ancestors being united and tyed together in the Faith of this Sacra-
ment, were not scattered by the Enemies of their Souveraign, when helped
by the miraculous valour in a Child of the house of Duglas, they galantly
brought Queen Mary out of the Bondage of Lockleven, and lodged Her safely
the first night in my Lord SETON'S own House at Nether ee in West Lothian.
They keeping still Faith to God and their Soveraigns, after this action spread
even under Persecution, as Camamoile trodden down, both to more Wealth
and Honour.

'Twas for the Vertue of the SETONS that Noble Motto in via virtuti
via nulla, no way hard or impassable to vertue, was given them. And
where, I pray, in their perswasion then, and still in yours is the seat of Ver-
tue but in this Bread of the strong ?

If the Prophet Elias refreshed with that Bread, which was only a Figure
of our Sacrament, walked fourty days and as many nights, wonder you that
those great Men. of whom you have the Honour to descend, receiving it

* David de Rodon, or plain Derodon (Michaud, Biographie Universelle),
a French Calvinist, published at Geneva in 1654 L^e Tombeau de la Messe, a
translation of which was issed at Edinburgh in 1681, with this rather pre-
mature title, " The Funeral of the Mass, or the Mass Dead and Buried
without Hope of Resurrection."

144 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d.

often were quickened to generosity, and Christian Duty to King and
Country ?

SIR CHRISTOPHER SETON by ROBERT A BRUCE, surnamed
the Good, merited for his Devotion to the Sacrifice of the Mass, to have after
his Death the daily Sacrifice offered for him, and this was performed by the
same King ROBERT, whose Sister he had Married, for he founded a
Chapel near Dumfrice, call'd Christel Chappel, and a Priest to offer Sacri-
fice in it for the Soul of Good Sir Chrislofer, as he out of a loving respect
was pleased to call him. This renowned Champion dyed at London as Hon-
ourably as Cruelly by the hands of the English whom he had often stoutly
opposed and pestured in the service of his Country.

But why was Christofer the first his Predecessor call'd more Devout than
Worly ? But because his Heart was powerfully, tho sweetly, drawn to this
Sacrament, as Iron to a Loadstone ? Hoc specialiter \ says Thomas a Jv cm-
pis I. 4, de imit. Ch. c. I. Devotorum corda trahit, this Sacrament draws by
a special way the hearts of Devoid People ; and thus from a special respect
to this Sacrament a Man worthily obtains the title of Devout.

Lord George the third a Prudent Man, and very Familiar with King
JAMES the third, devided his Devotion to the Altar with his Lady Dame
Jeane Hepburn, called by the History a Noble and Wise Lady, Daughter
to the Earl of Bothnel.

O Lord, said, the Royal Prophet, L have loved the beauty of thy LLoi/se,
Psal. 25. Were not those two great Souls inflam'd with the same Zeal,
when striving as it were who might do best, they set themselves to decore
the Colledge-Church of SETON ?

The Lord paved and seiled the quire ; and the Lady raised an He on the
North-side, and having taken down that on the South side, Built by the Devo-
tion of Dame Catherine Sinclair, rebuilded it again with proportion to make
a perfit Cross, and founded two Prebends to serve the Altars. The Lord,
not to speak of other Ornaments, gave it a compleat Sute of Cloth of Gold ;
And the Lady compleat Sutes of all the Colours of the Church, for Advent,
Lent, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins ; for all the solemn Feasts of the Year
of Purple and Crimson Velvet richly flower'd with Gold, white Damask, &c.
Not forgetting a Sute of black Vestiments for the Dead with other fine
Chasubels. Also a great Silver Cross, a Silver Eucharist Ciborium or Re-
monstrance for the B. Sacrament with a fair Chalice Silver and Gilt, all for
the Majesty and Decorement of the Altar.

Some may think I had done better in a Dedicatory, to busie my Pen in
describing the Courage of a Governour of Berwick of the House of Seton,
who in cold Blood chused rather to see his Son violently put to Death than
to faile in his trust to King and Country, and in such like signal actions
admired by Men, than in rehersing these liberalities made to the Altar, which
are but petty things in the Eyes of worlings.

But my ayme is not so much to shew the worly grandeur of your Family,

1681] DEDICATION TO SIR GEORGE SETON. 145

as the Devotion to this Mystery, (which makes the Subject of my Book) of
the great ones in it. This their Devotion made them truly great. Take
from a Man the sense and respect he has for God, and for what relates to
him, and what is he with all he has, or may possess ? Little, a nothing, an
object of contempt. As God dismaly at last slights them who slight him,
and what regards his Honour, so he stupendously glorifies them, who have
made it their work to seek his Glory. / Samuel 2 v. 30. Live then forever
Souls nobly affected to contribute to the Majesty of this daily Sacrifice, which
is upon Earth God's greatest Glory.

O change of times and manners ! where is he or she in Scotland now a
dayes, who make it their study to imitate those fore-mentioned Noble Per-
sons ? What a loss is the want of such for the House of God ! How many
poor Families, Monasteries, Churches, and Altars mourned at the Death,
especially of that pious Lady ?

If the monastery of Seins in Burromure nigh Edinburgh were standing,
it would tell you 'twas hither she retired herself after the decease of her
Lord ; to attend in solitude with more freedom to God. I am now defae'd,
she is Dead, who having chiefly founded me, while she lived, conserved me,
and decored me.

SIR, can you forget, or not respect the memory of so much piety ? To
which they were powerfully moved by the belief they had of the adorable
Sacrifice of the Altar. As often as you see the three Crescents in your Arms,
remember that you must increase or grow as they did in a lively Faith of
this Mystery, which is the seed of Divine Love and Charity to your Neigh-
bour. I know you have hazarded something already for your Faith, but if
an other occasion be given you, mindful of one of the Noble Mottos of your
House, hazard yet further, in what is prudently acknowledged to be the Ser-
vice of God, there is no danger to be redoubted, or so much as apprehended.
Your very name SET-ON minds you of generosity in what you act for God,
or may undertake for the Service of his Vice-gerent upon Earth, the King.

God and you best know what hope you have lay'd up in Heaven, as the
Apostle speaks to the Colos. I v. 5, But much of Your Charitie the World
has seen. I am the Subject of a notable part of it, and Witness of your
sheltring poor Strangers, considering distressed Tenents, clothing the
naked, feeding orphelins, visiting the imprisoned in Person, the sick by
almes, entring some fore-lorne into the number of your domesticks, and
honestly burying the Dead, that had no Friend or Relation, able to do that
Duty. Such actions done in the Spirit of Christ, make savour at .present in
the Eucharist, the sweetness of the hidden Manna there, and will Crown
hereafter the Christian in the solemn day of the general Resurrection.

Infin, Since the Treassures of your Arms being Flower Deludes, as good
as tell you, you must flowrish, strive to florwish in the Faith of your ances-
tors. Ambulo in fide, saves the Author of the Imitation of Christ, I. 4. C.
II, exemplis comfortatus Sanctorum, I walk in the Faith of the Real Body

146 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, comfortably held in it by the example
of the Saints, this Faith gives Men a Victory over the World making them
fear, esteem and Love only this God of Love, (a Love surprising in this
Mystery.) And being fully satisfied, with the expected possession of him,
breath now after the Loveliness of his Eternity. This Flowrishing condi-
tion, I cordially wish you as I am, SIR, your most humble and obliged
Servant, N. N.

II. Sir George Seton of Garleton. Sir George Seton
succeeded his father and went abroad young. He was " well
travelled in Flanders, France, Italy, Germany, Bohemia, and
England." On May 18, 1704, u There being a proclama-
tion emitted by the Privy Council appointing each Presbytery
in this Kingdom to send in to it lists of all the Papists that
are within their bounds. Accordingly Mr. John Jenkinson,
Minister of Athelstaneford, presented the following list of
Papists living in his said parish; viz. Sir George Seton of
Garleton, Barbara Wauchop his Ladie, Andrew, John, Bar-
bara, and Mary their children," besides a number of servants.

Sir George married Barbara, daughter of Andrew Wauchope,
Laird of Niddrie- Wauchope, * of an old familv, by whom he

* This very ancient family was originally settled in the south of Scotland,
in the district of Wauchopedale, in the County of Dumfries. The direct
ancestors of the present family were hereditary Bailies (or Sheriffs — an im-
portant office in feudal ages) to the Keiths, afterward Earls Marischal of
Scotland, from whom they got the lands of Niddrie Marischal. The Wau-
chopes of Niddrie have been seated in the Parish of Liberton, near Edin-
burgh, for more than five hundred years continuously, and are the oldest
untitled family in Mid-Lothian. Robert Wauchope of Niddrie founded a
chapel in honor of the B. V. M. in 1389. One of the most distinguished
men of this still flourishing family was Robert, son of Gilbert Wauchope of
Niddrie, who studied at Paris and was a Doctor of the Sorbonne. He was
attached to the Diocese of St. Andrew's and filled a chair of theology in that
university. In 1539 the administration in temporals and spirituals of the
Archbishopric of Armagh, in Ireland, was given him, and on the 23d of
March, 1545, he obtained the pallium for that Primatial See. He was
one of the few English-speaking prelates who took part in the Council of
Trent : A'. D. Robert us Vaucop, Scotus, archiepiscopus Armachauus. Elect.
1541. Obiit 1551. He died at Paris on the loth of November, 1551.
(Brady: Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland^ and Ireland, I. 217; II.

1704-69] LAST GARLETON BARONET. 147

had four sons and three daughters. Of George and John here-
after; James, a captain in Keith's regiment, died in France
without issue; Andrew, an officer in Irelande's regiment,
died without issue at the camp of Randasto, in Italy, 10th
October, 17 19 ; Mary married John Arrat of Fofarty, and was
alive on December 1, 1769, but nothing is known of her later.

III. Sir George Seton of Garleton. Sir George Seton
succeeded his father as third baronet. Born in 1685, ne
would have become, but for the attainder, sixth Earl of Win-
ton. He engaged in the u Rising " of 17 15, and was taken
prisoner at Preston, in Lancashire, England ; was amnestied,
and passed over to France, where he died, at Versailles, it is
said without issue, on March 9, 1769, in the eighty-fourth
year of his age. With him ended the Garleton baronetcy.

It is not certain that there are no representatives of the
Garleton line. If it could be proved, they would be also the
representatives of the Earls of Winton. Garleton was once
called Garmylton or Gairmiltoun. A distinguished man and
journalist in his day at Washington, the late William Winston
Sexton, of the National Intelligencer, of whom a biographical
sketch was published at Boston in 187 1, claimed to be de-
scended from this branch of the family, and that Henry, his
ancestor, who had been involved in resistance to the Prince of
Orange, u sought refuge in 1690 in the colony of Virginia. "
He settled in Gloucester County, on the Pyanketank River.
There is a letter in the British Museum from Dorothy Seaton,
widow, dated 21st July, 1730, which gives her address as at
c< Seaton' s Ferry on Pyanketank, Virginia." The present
representative of Mr. Sexton's family is, I have understood,
Commander Se^ton-Schroeder, U.S.N.

292 ; and Waterworth: Cotincil of Trent, p. 291.) The family long con-
tinued Catholic, and in 1698, of the ten fathers of the Society of Jesus in
Scotland, two were lodged at Niddrie Marischal. (Bellesheim: Hist, of
Cath. Ch. in Scot., p. 369.)

CHAPTER IX.

SETON OF WINDYGOUL, BART., 164I — 167I.

Robert, the youngest son of George, third Earl of Win=
ton, born ioth November, 1641, was created a Knight-Bar-
onet of Nova Scotia, 24th January, 167 1. He received from
his father as appanage the estate of Windygoul, in the Parish
of Tranent, and so called from its being situated on a spot
much exposed to the wind. He died without issue in Novem-
ber, 1 67 1, and was buried in Seton Church. He is described
by Kingston as " a good scholar." With him the baronetcy
expired. The grim old tower of Windygoul is now a pictu-
resque ruin. It can be visited from Tranent. Sir Robert
Seton's mother was the Hon. Elizabeth Maxwell, daughter
of John, seventh Lord Herries, and second wife to the third
Earl of Winton.

CHAPTER X.

SETON OF OLIVESTOB, -l6oi.

The Hon. Sir Thomas Seton, fourth son of the first Earl
of Winton, was provided by his father with the Olivestob
estate. The name is commonly derived from Holy and Stop,
because the Sacred Host rested in a repository erected here
during the annual procession with the Blessed Sacrament
which was formerly made from Preston, originally Priest's
town, to Newbattle Abbey. I suggest another derivation : the
words " Holy " and " Stob " ; and that it shows it to have
been, at one time, a place of refuge or sanctuary. It was
anciently the custom to mark the limits of ground so set apart
by a cross or crosses. A cross for this purpose was called a
Stob Cross. The Gaelic word stob signifies in the Cleveland
dialect "a stake defining the limits of an enclosure"; and
the space within these precincts was called " Holy Ground."
The learned antiquary, Alexander Laing, says: "Places
known as Stob Cross, in Scotland, are invariably at the out-
skirts of towns or villages." This is exactly the case with
our Olivestob. In later times, when out-door processions
with the Blessed Sacrament were common, there was a
Repository there, and the Sacred Host stopped there, precisely
because it was already a holy place. Olivestob is very near
Prestonpans, and is now called Bankton House. It is a fine
old mansion. The celebrated Colonel Gardiner lived there,
and was killed almost beside it in the battle of 1745.

150 AN OLD FAMILY.

Sir Thomas married Agnes, daughter of Drummond of
Corskelpy, of the noble family of Perth, by whom he had
three daughters. Of these : Margaret, the eldest, married
George Seton, fourth Baron of Cariston. The next, whose
name is not given, married Major Keith, Sheriff' of the
Mearns. The youngest, Grizel, married James Inglis, living
in Edinburgh, and left descendants. Miss Reid-Seton, of
Leyton, Essex, now claims to represent this branch of the
Setons through descent from this marriage. Failing male
heir, Olivestob passed, presumably bv purchase, to the Hamil-
tons, one of whom had married a Margaret Seton, but died
without issue in 1560.

CHAPTER XI.

SETON OF ST. GERMAINS, -1 7 1 8.

The Hon. Sir John Seton, son of the first Earl of Win-
ton, got the lands of Saint Germains after his brother obtained
the Earldom of Eglinton. It was a beautiful sylvan domain,
suggestive of spiritual peace and honest pleasure, where the
woods were vocal with

"The moan of doves in immemorial elms."

In early times there had been a hospital or hospice there,
and the ivy-grown remains of a very ancient building are still
seen beside the rippling burn. I have no doubt that the
name is derived from Saint Germanus of Auxerre, who twice
visited Britain and left the deep impress of his sanctity and
learning upon the people. It must have reached even unto
the land of the Picts and Scots. " St. Germanus was the
titular saint of many churches in England, and of the great
abbey of Selby in Yorkshire," says Alban Butler, "July 26.
In French it is St. Germain, and under this form his devotion
would be introduced by the Normans into England and Scot-
land. In " Ragman's Roll" mention is made of a certain
u Bartholomew Mestre de la maison de St. Germen, anno
1296 " ; and at a later date the house and its revenues came
into the possession of the Knights Templars. After their
suppression they were bestowed by James IV. on King's
College, Aberdeen. But how long they remained an endow-
ment of that seat of learning we know not, nor how or when
they came to the Setons. Sir John married Margaret, daughter

152 AN OLD FAMILY.

of Mr. William Kellie, " one of the Senators of the Colledge
of Justice, " says Lord Kingston in his Continuation, followed
by Mr. Seton in his History (II., 711); but no such person
is found among these officials in Hailes's Historical Account,
and Nisbet merely says that she " was daughter to Mr. Wil-
liam Kellie of Newtoun," and that the arms of Seton and
Kellie were yet to be seen on a stone above the gate of Saint
Germains.

II. John Seton of St. Germains. He succeeded his
father in this beautiful estate, and married Anna Turnbull,
by whom he had a son George, baptized in Tranent parish
kirk, April 27, 1675, and a daughter Anna, baptized Decem-
ber 15, 1676. No more is known of him.

III. George Seton of St. Germains. Succeeded his
father, and died on the 11th of January, 17 18. He never
married, being too poor to support a family ; since his fortune
was now only sufficient to starve on like a gentleman.

With him ended the line.

CHAPTER XII.

SETON OF BARNES, I553-I588.

The first of this family was John, a son of the seventh
Lord Seton. He was born about 1553. He is described as
a brave young man who was early sent on his travels and pre-
pared for public life. Nisbet says that he was bred up at the
Court of Spain, and honored by King Philip with Knighthood
in the Order of St. James of Calatrava, which was one of the
four semi-religious, semi-military orders founded in the Mid-
dle Ages to defend Church and State against the Moors, and
the most esteemed Order of Knighthood in Spain in the six-
teenth century. The king himself was Grand Master. Sir
John was also made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, whose
badge was a golden key suspended from a blue ribbon, and
granted a yearly pension of two thousand crowns. While at
the height of his favor with Philip II. he was summoned home
bv King James VI., " unwilling to have so gallant a subject
out of his court and service." He was employed in Scotland
in various high offices, among others that of Master of the
Horse, and on 3d January, 1586, was constituted first Master
of His Majesty's Household for life, with all " the privileges
and fees" thereto appertaining. On the 17th February,
1588, he was admitted an Extraordinary Lord in the College
of Justice, in place of his brother Alexander promoted. The
king's letter of nomination bears that his Majesty was well
informed of ll his literature, good judgment and qualifica-
tions. "

154 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1615

Sir John married in September, 1588, at the house of
Lord Ogilvy, in Angus, where a numerous assembly of
northern lords and their families was gathered, Ann, daughter
of the seventh Lord Forbes,* by whom he left a son who suc-
ceeded him. He u got for his appanage, from his father,"
the lands of Barnes, which are situated on the eastern slope of
the Garleton Hills, where he began an immense and magnifi-
cent structure, intending it for a Court, but which he never
lived to complete. Had he survived he would have been
surely raised to the peerage, but he died on the 25th of May,
1594, u in the strength of his age, and was buried in the
College Kirk of Seton." In The Castellated and Domestic
Architecture of Scotland (II., 233—234) there is a plan and view
of Barnes, of which the learned authors say :

" The most remarkable features connected with the structure are the six
square projecting towers which surround the walls. . . . These towers
are provided with shot-holes which enfilade the walls. They give the ruins
a thoroughly military character and it is this combination of the character-
istics of Feudal architecture, with an advanced symmetrical style of domestic
planning, which makes this a most interesting and valuable plan."

Barnes Castle was probably inspired by Sir John's residence
in Castile, the land of Towers par excellence, and his earlv
association with the Order of Calatrava. It is easily visited
from Haddington.

II. Sir John Seton of Barnes. Sir John Seton of Barnes
was served heir to his father on the 3d October, 16 15.

He was a gallant man, and was made an officer of the Court
by King Charles I. He acquired u from Sir Robert Gordon
of Lochinvar, land in Ireland worth five hundred pounds ster-

* The surname of Forbes is derived from the lands so called, in Aberdeen-
shire. It is a great Scotch family whose peerage dates from 1442. Jean,
eldest daughter of this seventh lord, was married to James, fourth Lord
Ogilvy, which accounts for the marriage being celebrated at his house.
The noble family of Ogilvy derives from the ancient Maormors of .Angus.
It is now represented in the peerage by the Earl of Airlie, a title conferred
on his ancestor the sixth Lord Ogilvy in 1639.

dr. 1625] AN IRISH ALLIANCE. 155

ling a year"; yet he had little rest or time to enjoy himself
and complete his father's castle, because he was imprisoned
and fined in a considerable sum of money by the Scotch Rebels
for being in arms in 1646 with the Marquess of Montrose.

He was thrice married, but had no offspring by his second
wife, Anne, daughter of John, sixth Lord Fleming. His
first wife was Isabella, daughter to Ogilvv of Powrie, by
whom he had one son and three daughters : Alexander, who,
going to visit his father's Irish estate, met and married a
lady of the noble family of O'Ferrall, but died without
succession. His wife was an O'Ferrall Buoy, of the Lords
of Annaiy, in the County Longford, descended from Fear-
ghail, chief of the Sept, who fell at the battle of Clontarf,
against the Danes, a.d. 10 14.

Isabel, married to the Laird of Barfoord.

Margaret, married to the Tutor * of Duff us in Moray.

Lilias, married to Sir James Ramsay of Benholm, Kincar-
dineshire.

His third wife was a daughter (name not given) of Sir John
Home of North Berwick, by whom he had two sons and a
daughter:

George, who succeeded his father.

Charles, died young.

Jane, married to John Hay of Aberlady.

III. George Seton of Barnes. Of him little is known,
except that he succeeded, married, and had an heir named
John.

IV. Sir John Seton of Barnes. Of him also very little
is known, except that he died in March, 1659, ana< — from
his last will and testament, subscribed at Edinburgh on the
1 8th of February, 1659 — tnat ms wife's name was Margaret

* This word, which in the civil law means only the guardian of a young-
laird and administrator of his estate, came to have in Scotland the social
significance of a title of honor, and is frequently so used.

156 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

Hay. He orders that if he should die in Edinburgh his body
was to be taken to Seton, to be interred in the place of his
father's burial u with decency, but without pomp or great
show."

V. Sir George Seton (last) of Barnes. He first appears
in 1704 and in 1707. After the death, in France, of the
fourth Earl of Dunfermline, 1694, he assumed the title — the
estates had been confiscated — and proclaimed the " Preten-
der' at Kelso on the 24th October, 17 15. A few weeks
later he was included in the surrender at Preston. The same
year he sold the lands of Barnes to Colonel Charteris. It is
not known how he escaped the consequences of the insurrec-
tion, but in 1732 he appears to have resided very quietly at
Haddington. By his wife Anne, daughter of Sir George
Suttie of Balgone, * he had a son and a daughter: James, of
whom hereafter; Anne, who married John Don, of the town
of Edinburgh, by whom she had a son, Sir George Don,
Governor of Gibraltar.

Sir George was buried in Seton Church.

VI. James Seton (i). He was Governor of the Island
of St. Vincent in the West Indies, and in 1773 presented a
petition to King George III. to be allowed the title, rank,
and privileges of Earl of Dunfermline. The claim, while
not positively rejected, was never acted upon, probably for
want of funds. I remember my father's cousin, the late Sir
George Cay ley, telling him that it took cc two English for-
tunes to prosecute a peerage case before the House of Lords."

* George Suttie, Esq., of Adcliston, was created a Baronet of Nova
Scotia in 1702, and married Marion, daughter and heiress of John Semple
of Ikdgone, of an ancient family in Renfrewshire, which was raised to the
peerage in the person of Sir John Semple (also Sympil and now Sempill) in
148S. Sir George Suttie's great-grandson, and the 4th baronet, assumed the
additional surname and arms of Grant, on succeeding his aunt Janet Grant,
dowager Countess of llyndford, in the estate of Preston Grange, County
Haddington.

[715] L^ST SETON OF BARNES. 157

Bv his wife Susan, a great beauty in her day, daughter of
James Moray of Abercairney, in the County of Perth, and of
Lady Christian Montgomerie, daughter of the ninth Earl of
Eglinton, he had, with other children who died young or un-
married, a son James, of whom hereafter. The Governor
of St. Vincent died in London at an advanced age and very
much respected.

VII. James Seton (2). He was a lieutenant-colonel in
the army. Married Margaret, only daughter of the Rev.
John Findlater, and had among other children Catharine,
born 23d May, 18 18. She married John Coventry, Esq.,
of Burgate House, Hants, formerly Rector of Tywardteath
and great-grandson of the sixth Earl of Coventry. They
have eleven children, of whom two daughters, nuns in Edin-
burgh, and John, the eldest son and heir, born 19th February,
1846, who married, in 1876, Emily Mary, daughter of
Joseph Weld, Esq., of Lymington, Hants, of the old Catholic
family of the Welds of Lulworth, by whom he has two sons
and five daughters. One of the sons, Bernard Seton Coven-
try, born in 1887, represents in the latest generation the
family of Barnes, and consequently the old Earls of Dun-
fermline— said, however, with reservation of the claim of my
nearer kinsman descended from Andrew and Margaret Seton,
as will appear farther on. I have seen at Burgate House
many portraits and memorials of the Seton family.

Colonel Seton, of Brookheath, Hants, died in 1831.

CHAPTER XIII.

SETON OF KYLESMURE, 1562— 1635.

I. Sir William Seton of Kylesmure, Knight.

He was born in 1562, the fourth and youngest son of George,
seventh Lord Seton. Kingston, in his Continuation, describes
him as a brave man, and for some years Chief Justice in the
south border of Scotland. It was necessary to be a man of
great physical courage and iron nerve to enforce law and order
in such an age and in such a district. In a letter from Sir
William to Lord Binning, he gives an account of an Assize
Court held at Peebles in 16 16, in which twenty-one cattle-
lifters were hanged on the same day. After James VI. had
come to the English throne, Sir William was made Master of
the Posts of Scotland, a position which he held under this king
and his successor, from both of whom he enjoyed a pension.
He was also at the same time actively engaged in other public
business, especially in keeping the peace among the Borderers
and punishing their infractions. He resigned the Post Master-
ship in 1623, when his eldest son got the place. Sir William
married a daughter of Stirling of Glorat, and had two sons
and three daughters : William, who succeeded him, and John,
who was an officer in the Scotch Regiment in France under
Colonel Hepburn. This famous regiment was raised in
March, 1633, by Sir John Hepburn. " They were all good
soldiers, reared in the school of Gustavus Adolphus, and most
of them gentlemen." * It formed part of the army of Lor-
raine, and saw some hard service on the Rhine.

Sir William died at the age of seventy-three years in his

*The Scots Guards, II., 212.

SIR WILLIAM SETON OF KTLESMURE. 159

house at Haddington, in 1635, and was buried in " the col-
lege kirk of Seton."

II. Sir William Seton (2) of Kylesmure. He suc-
ceeded his father as Master of the Posts in Scotland during
his lifetime, as appears from a charter of the king dated at
Theobald's, 2d April, 1623, appointing him his Majesty's
Chief Post Master, with a fee of ^500.

On Wednesday, 26th May, 1625, at Whitehall, King
Charles I. ratified a grant to Sir William Seton (1), Kt.,
and after his death to his two sons, William and John, of a
yearly pension of ,£1,200, also the gift of the Post Mastership
and fee of ^'500 as above. The second Sir William never
married — but died of a good age in 1662, and was buried in
the church of Seton — or the office might have become heredi-
tary in his family, which would have been natural in that
corrupt age and under the Stuarts.

CHAPTER XIV.

SETON OF MELDRUM.

William Seton, a younger son of Sir Alexander Seton,
Lord of Gordon, married Elizabeth, Heiress of Meldrum, an
ancient family in Aberdeenshire, and founded the Setons of
Meldrum. William was slain at the battle of Brechin, 18th
May, 1452, leaving an only son, Alexander, who succeeded
him, and is styled dominus de Meldrum, in 1469, The line
ended as it had come, in an heiress Elizabeth, sixth in descent
from William Seton and Elizabeth Meldrum. In 16 10 she
married John Urquhart of Craigfintry, and had several chil-
dren, the eldest of whom, Patrick, succeeded to the estate,
and was the first of the Urquharts of Meldrum, who still
continue, as may be seen in Burke's Landed Gentry.

CHAPTER XV.

SETON OF TOUCH.

Alexander Seton, first Earl of Huntly, had a son, like-
wise named Alexander, by his second marriage, about 18th
January, 1426, with Lydia, daughter and heiress of Sir John
Hay of Tullibody, in the County of Clackmannan. This
son succeeded to his mother's estate and was the first Seton
of Touch.

I. Sir Alexander Seton, Laird of Touch and Tullibody.
He was appointed Hereditary Armour Bearer to the King,

and is so designated in a charter dated November, 1488. He
married Lady Elizabeth Erskine, * daughter to Thomas, Lord
Erskine, claiming to be Earl of Mar, and died at an advanced
age, leaving a son and successor. He was an example of the
Seton qualities of strong constitution and longevity.

II. Sir Alexander Seton of Touch. He died, like so
many of his kindred, on the field of Flodden, in 15 13. Mar-
ried Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander, Lord Home, by whom
he had two sons, Ninian and John.

I believe Ninian is the only one of our family who ever
bore this Christian name, which is that of an early Scotch saint,
a.d. 360-432. More than sixty churches were dedicated to
him throughout Scotland. Touch House, which is three

* Erskine is a great and ancient name derived from the lands of Erskine,
on the Clyde. " The Earldom of Mar is the oldest Scottish earldom by de-
scent, as it is in many respects the most remarkable in the empire " (Rid-
dell). One branch of the Erskines is Earl of Mar and another is Earl of
Mar and Kellie — an anomalous outcome of a family dispute and peerage
decision which made a considerable stir in Scotland a few years ago.

1 62 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

miles and a half from Stirling, is within Saint Ninian's Parish,
which accounts for the baptismal name of this Seton.

III. Sir Ninian Seton of Touch. Married Janet,
daughter to Sir Edmund Chisholm of Cromlix, by whom he
had several children. Chisholm is a very old Scotch family.
It is both Border and Highland. Sir Edmund, first of Crom-
lix, was the youngest son of Robert de Chesholme, by Marion,
daughter of Sir William Douglas of Drumlanrig. The head
of the Highland branch of the family is distinguished as a The.
It used to be a boast, in former days, that only three men in
Scotland were entitled to v'The" before their names — The
Pope, The King, The Chisholm.

IV. Sir Walter Seton of Touch. He succeeded his
father about 1567. Married, before 1545, Lady Elizabeth
Erskine, daughter to John, fifth Lord Erskine, and Earl of
Mar. By her he had three sons.

V. James Seton of Touch. Succeeded to the estate and
married, first, a daughter of Sir William Cranstoun of that Ilk.
Cranstoun is a very old Scotch family, raised to the peerage in
1609. It is now dormant or extinct. Samuel Cranstoun was
royal Governor of Rhode Island in 1724. In his essav on
Warren Hastings, Macaulay makes an application of u the
old motto of one of the great predatory families of Teviotdale :
Thou shalt want ere I want." It is that of the Cranstouns.
James Seton had some hand in the still mysterious " Raid of
Ruthven," but was pardoned by the king from Stirling, 24th
October, 1583. By his first marriage he had a son and heir
named John. He married, secondly, Eline-Jane, daughter of
Edmonstone of that Ilk, and of Ednam, Countv Roxburgh, by
whom he had Alexander, ancestor of the Setons of Abercorn,
and two other sons.

VI. John Seton of Touch. Succeeded his father. Mar-
ried Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Home of Wedderburn,
and died in 1622, leaving a son James.

I =,20-16221 JAMES SETON OF TOUCH. 163

VII. James Seton of Touch. Married Ann, daughter
to Sir Thomas Stewart of Grandtully, by whom he had a son
who succeeded him, and a daughter Euphemia, who married
William, seventh Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, created Earl
of Dumfries in 1633. The peerage is now held by the Mar-
quess of Bute.

VIII. James Seton of Touch. He was served heir to
his father on 23d of April, 1630, and suffered many hard-
ships on account of his attachment to King Charles I. He
married Elizabeth, daughter to Sir Archibald Stirling of Gar-
den and Keir, by whom he had a daughter Lucy, born March,
1676, and a son James.

IX. James Seton of Touch. Succeeded his father, and,
like him, was a Royalist. After the Restoration he was grat-
ified with a large pension. He married his cousin of the
family of Stirling, and had a son Archibald, his successor.

X. Archibald Seton of Touch. He was served heir to
his father in the lands and barony of Touch and the heredi-
tary office of Armour Bearer, in November, 1702, and a i'ew
years after got into imminent peril , with other Jacobite gentle-
men, for drinking the health of their prince whom Whigs
called the " Pretender." In 172 1 he married Barbara, only
daughter and heiress of Alexander Hunter of Muirhouse, by
whom he had a son James, who succeeded him, and a daugh-
ter Elizabeth, who succeeded her brother.

XL James Seton of Touch. Was served heir to his
father 27th July, 1726, but dying unmarried in 1742, he was
succeeded in his estates and dignity by his sister.

Elizabeth Seton of Touch. From her as heiress the
name and property went zigzagging for several generations
among different families, and are now (1898) held by

Sir Alan-Henry Seton-Steuart of Allanton and Touch,
Bart.

CHAPTER XVI.

SETON OF ABERCORN, BART.

These Setons derive their branch designation from the
Barony of Abercorn, which they possessed at one time. The
Manor belonged in the reign of King David I. (n 24-1 153)
to the Avenels, of whom I have written in an earlier chapter.
It now gives a ducal title to the head of the Hamiltons. The
first of the family was —

I. Sir Alexander Seton of Kilcreuch. He was the
second son of James Seton (5) of Touch, who, being " a man
of parts and learning," was admitted an ordinary Lord of
Session, on the 4th of Februarv, 1626, bv the title of Lord
Kilcreuch. He was knighted by Charles I. at Holyrood on
1 2th July, 1633. On account of his infirmitv of sight and
many years, being a scrupulously honest man in an unscrupu-
lous age, he resigned his seat on the Bench, with its honor and
emoluments, on 6th of June, 1637. He married Marion,
daughter to William Maule of Glaster, of the Maules of
Panmure, which is a family of great antiquity and eminence.
The Earldom of Panmure was created in 1646 for Patrick
Maule of Panmure, a staunch Royalist.

I have wondered how Nathaniel Hawthorne, who ought to
have known better, could have made such a blunder as to give
the aristocratic name of Maule to a tvpical plebeian, iconoclast,
and radical in his Home of the Seven Gables.

Sir Alexander had, with other issue, a son —

II. Alexander Seton of Graden. He was a poet and
a fine musician. Married Margaret (or Janet ?), daughter of

SIR WALTER SETON OF ABERCORN. 165

Cornwall of Bonhard, an ancient family in West Lothian.
Died about 1645, and had, with other issue, Walter, his suc-
cessor.

III. Sir Walter Seton of Abercorn, First Baronet.
He had a charter of the Lairdship of Abercorn, County Lin-
lithgow, in 1662. Having filled an important position in the
Revenue Service of the Government, he was created a Baronet
of Nova Scotia by King Charles II. in 1663.

The hereditary order of Baronets was instituted in Scotland
bv Charles I. in 1625, and as in the earlier English baronetage
of James I., only estated gentlemen were selected for the
honor. Scotch baronets are called of Nova Scotia, in North
America, because their institution was connected in its origin
with Sir William Alexander's scheme of colonizing that
country. They do not use in their arms the Red Hand of
Ulster, but have by long-established custom and prescription
the privilege of Supporters. As a personal decoration they
are entitled to wear an Orange-tawny Riband and Badge of
Saint Andrew.

Sir Walter married Christian, daughter of Dundas of
Dundas, and had, with other issue, a son Walter, who suc-
ceeded him.

The family of Dundas is one of great eminence.

IV. Sir Walter Seton of Abercorn, Second Baronet.
He was a distinguished advocate at the Scottish Bar, and an
official of Edinburgh town. Married Euphemia, daughter of
Sir Robert Murrav of Priestfield, by whom he had, with other
issue, Henry, third baronet. Sir Walter died on January 3,
1708.

V. Sir Henry Seton of Abercorn, Third Baronet.
Succeeded his father, and on the death of James Seton of
Touch without issue, in 1742, he became, as heir male of Sir
Alexander Seton, eldest son of the first Earl of Huntlv, de jure
Lord Gordon. The Abercorn Setons have never ceased to

1 66 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 175 r

claim this ancient title. He married Barbara, daughter of
Sir John Wemyss of Bogie, Bart., and had, with other
issue, Henry, his successor, and George, who married a dis-
tant kinswoman, Barbara Seton, sister of William Seton, of
New York, my great-grandfather. Another son, Robert, is
often mentioned in old Mrs. Seton' s correspondence, as now
in America and now in India. His wife also and a daughter
are mentioned, but I cannot gather from the letters what the
former's maiden name was. Sir Henry died in 1751, and
was succeeded by his eldest son.

VI. Sir Henry Seton of Abercorn, Fourth Baronet.
He was captain in the Seventeenth Regiment of Foot, and
served in North America. Among the Land Papers in the
office of the Secretary of State at Albany, New York, is a
certificate dated December 2, 1765, from General Gage, that
Capt. Sir Henry Seton, Bart., served during the war (for the
Reduction of Canada) as aide-de-camp to Honble. Major-
Gen. Monckton ; a Petition of Richard Maitland * and Sir
Henry Seton, dated December 13, 1766, for a grant of
8,000 acres to the rear of Coeyman's confirmation; and a
Return of Survey for Sir Henry Seton, Bart., Captain, of
3,000 acres on the west side of Hudson's River, in the
County of Albany (now Durham, Greene County); also a
Map of the same.

Both Sir Henry and Colonel Maitland were particular
friends of William Seton, of New York.

Sir Henry Seton married Margaret, daughter to Alexander
Hay of Drumelzier, by whom he had a son Alexander, who
succeeded him on his death in 1788.

VII. Sir Alexander Seton of Abercorn, Fifth Baronet.

* This is the one whose tardy marriage of conscience at New York in
1772, while in the public service, settled the famous Lauderdale peerage
claim in 1884 in favor of his great-grandson, who succeeded as thirteenth
earl to the historic title and estates of the family.

1772] SIR ALEXANDER SETON OF ABERCORN. 167

He was bom on May 4, 1772, and belonged to the Honor-
able East India Company's service. Married May 20, 1795,
Lydia, daughter of Sir Charles-William Blunt, Bart., whose
baronetcy was created in June, 1720. Sir Alexander died at
Calcutta on February 4, 18 10. Two of his sons succeeded
to the title. Two died in the service of the H. E. I. C. in
India. Bruce, the third son, born 25th June, 1799, was a
Colonel H. E. I. C. S., and married Miss Emma Orton.
He had, besides other children, Charles-Compton and Emma-
Alice.

Charles Compton, late Lieutenant Roval Engineers, born
July 24, 1846, and married, 1868, Phoebe-Elizabeth, daugh-
ter of Sir Henry-William Ripley, Bart., M.P. , and has
by her Charles-Henry ; Bruce-Hugh ; and Margaret-Annie-
Phoebe, who married, in 1898, Captain Arthur Frankland,
a younger son of the Yorkshire baronet of this name.
Emma-Alice, married, July 18, 1876, Henry, fourth son of Sir
Henry-William Ripley, Bart., of Lightcliffe, near Halifax,
and died in 1884, leaving Henrv-Edward, Dorothy-Alice-
Seton, and Marian- Jeannette.

VIII. Sir Henry- John Seton of Abercorn, Sixth Bar-
onet. He was born 4th April, 1796. Was a captain in the
Army, and served in the Peninsular War with the Fifty-second
Regiment and the Fifth Dragoon Guards. Was a Groom-in-
Waiting to Queen Victoria. Probablv the earliest autograph
letter of her Majesty in existence is one addressed to Sir
Henry Seton. It is in childish print characters, and runs thus:

" How do you do, my dear Sir Henry ?

Your little friend, Yictoria."

It is preserved among the souvenirs and treasures of Dur-
ham House, London.

Sir Henry died, unmarried, in 1868, and was succeeded by
his brother.

1 68 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. i 797- 1899

IX. Sir Charles-Hay Seton of Abercorn, Seventh
Baronet. Born 14th November, 1797. Was a captain in
the famous Fifth Dragoon Guards. Married Caroline, daugh-
ter of Walter- Parry Hodges, Esq., Receiver-General for the
County of Dorset, and by her had an only son, who succeeded
to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1869.

X. Sir Bruce-Maxwell Seton of Abercorn, Eighth
and present Baronet. Sir Bruce was born 31st January,
1836. Is a Deputy-Lieutenant for Tower Hamlets. Has
been Private Secretarv to the Lord President of the Council,
1867—74, and is a retired official of the War Office. He is
a great traveller, and passed through New York on his way
around the world in 1874—75. He married, 30th January,
1886, Helen, daughter of General Richard Hamilton, C.B.,
a distinguished officer of the Indian Army.

Durham House, Chelsea, London, where I have received
a generous hospitality, contains a large and valuable col-
lection of paintings, sketches, works of art and antiquity,
objets de vertu, and heirlooms, such as Queen Mary's lace
collar, an old silver snuffbox with a pierced medallion of
Charles I. on the lid, a small gold ring with a strand of the
same king's hair — three precious Stuart relics; an Andrea Fer-
rara clavmore, Alexander Pope's reading-chair, and a for-
midable Burmese sword captured by General Hamilton (Sir
Bruce's brother-in-law) in a hand-to-hand conflict with a
renowned dacoit named Bohshwey, who had long terrorized a
whole district in India. Lady Seton is remarkably accom-
plished, a writer of great ability, and a beautiful woman.

SETON OF PITMEDDEN, BART.

William Seton of Meldrum had by his second wife, Mar-
garet, daughter of Innes of Leuchars, a son James.

I. James Seton of Pitmedden. He was born in 1553,

/*!

SIR BRUCE-MAXWELL SETON, BART

A.D. 1 553-1683] SETON OF PITMEDDEN. 171

and acquired the lands of Pitmedden in Aberdeenshire. Mar-
ried Margaret, granddaughter of William Rolland, Master of
the Mint in Aberdeen, under King James V. By her he had
an only son Alexander.

II. Alexander Seton of Pitmedden. Married Beatrix,
daughter of Sir Walter Ogilvy of Dunlugus, by whom he
had, with several daughters, a son John.

III. John Seton of Pitmedden. He is described in
Douglas's Baronage of Scotland (p. 183) as " a man of good
natural parts, which were greatly improved bv a liberal edu-
cation and travelling." He was a devoted Royalist, and
when in command of a detachment at the Bridge of Dee, on
the 1 8th June, 1639, was shot through the heart while carrv-
ing the king's standard. His body was interred at Aberdeen
with military honors.

By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Samuel Johnstone of
Elphinstone, Bart., he had two sons, James and Alexander.

IV. James Seton of Pitmedden. Succeeded to the estate
in 1639. With his mother and younger brother he was driven
from his home by the Covenanters, who also harried the
lands and plundered the house. After completing his educa-
tion at Aberdeen, he went abroad and visited most of the
Courts of Europe. He was a gallant naval officer, and died
of wounds received in the attack of the Dutch on the English
fleet at Chatham in 1667. He was succeeded by his brother.

V. Sir Alexander Seton of Pitmedden, First Baronet.
Sir Alexander was bred to the profession of the Law, and
greatly distinguished himself, receiving the honor of Knight-
hood from Charles II. in 1664. He was nominated a Senator
of the College of Justice, in 1677, under the title of Lord
Pitmedden, and was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia, 11th of
December, 1683. He represented the County of Aberdeen
for several years in Parliament. After the Revolution he was
offered the dignity of a Lord of Session by King William, but

172 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1 7 19

being a man of the highest sense of honor, he declined the office,
— although he had been badly treated by James II. — because
he deemed that it would be inconsistent with the oath of
allegiance which he had taken to that monarch. Hence, he
retired into private life and " died at a very advanced age in
1719." *

He cultivated music and possessed a vast and curious library,
and was the author of several learned treatises. Sir Alexander
married Margaret, daughter and heiress of William Lauder,
Esq., one of the Clerks of Session, and had a numerous fam-
ily, of whom William succeeded him, George founded the
Setons of Mounie, Alexander was physician to the forces
under the Duke of Marlborough, Elizabeth married Sir Alex-
ander Wedderburn of Blackness, Bart., Margaret married
Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, Bart., and Anne married
William Dick, Esq., of Grange. The family of Lauder, of
that Ilk, figures in Scottish history from an early period.

VI. Sir William Seton of Pitmedden, Second Baronet.
He was M.P. for the County of Aberdeen from 1702 to
1706, and one of the Commissioners appointed to treat about
the Union between England and Scotland. He was a learned
man, and the author of several esteemed works of a political
bearing. He married, in 1702, Catharine, daughter of Sir
Thomas Burnett of Leys, Bart., by whom he had, with
other issue, three sons : Alexander, William, and Archibald,
who succeeded to the baronetcy. Sir William Seton died in
1744, and was followed in the title by his eldest son.

VII. Sir Alexander Seton of Pitmedden, Third Bar-
onet. He was an officer of the Guards in 1750. Died and
was succeeded by his brother.

VIII. Sir William Seton of Pitmedden, Fourth Baronet.
He also died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother.

IX. Sir Archibald Seton of Pitmedden, Fifth Baronet.

* Ilailes : Senators of the College of Justice, p. 406.

1884] SIR WILLIAM SETON OF PITMEDDEN. 173

He was an officer of the Royal Navy, and on his decease
without issue the title devolved on his nephew.

X. Sir William Seton of Pitmedden, Sixth Baronet.
Married Margaret, eldest daughter of James Ligertwood, Esq.,
and left issue :

James, Major in the Ninetv-second Highlanders; killed in
the Peninsular War, 18 14, leaving by his wife Frances,
daughter of Captain George Coote (nephew of that eminent
soldier Sir Eyre Coote, Commander-in-chief in India), with
other issue, William-Coote, seventh baronet, and William,
an officer in the military service of the H. E. I. C, who died
in India unmarried. The Cootes are an ancient English
family which settled in Ireland temp. James I. The Premier
Baronetcy of Ireland was conferred upon them.

On the death of Sir William, in 18 19, he was succeeded
by his grandson.

XI. Sir William-Coote Seton of Pitmedden, Seventh
Baronet. He was Justice of the Peace and Deputy-Lieu-
tenant for the County of Aberdeen. Born December 19,
1 8 18. Married, 26th November, 1834, Eliza-Henrietta,
daughter of Henrv Lumsden, Esq., of Cushney, County
Aberdeen, a Director of the East India Company, and had,
with other issue, James-Lumsden and William-Samuel, who
succeeded as eighth and ninth baronet. Lumsden is an old
family in Aberdeenshire, which is traced back to Lumsden of
that Ilk in County Berwick, and figures in the middle of the
fourteenth century.

Sir William died 30th December, 1880.

XII. Sir James-Lumsden Seton of Pitmedden, Eighth
Baronet. Born 1st September, 1835, an officer in the Armv.
Served through the Indian Mutiny and in the Abyssinian cam-
paign. Was a writer on military subjects. Married Eliza-

/beth, daughter of George Castle, Esq., of Oxford, but died
without issue on 28th September, 1884.

174 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1740

XIII. Sir William-Samuel Seton of Pitmedden, Ninth
and present Baronet. Born 22d May, 1837. Entered the
military service. Was present with the Fourth Rifles at the
battle and siege of Kandahar in 1880. Colonel of the Bom-
bay stafF corps. Married, 15th March, 1876, Eva-Kate St.
Leger, only daughter of Lieutenant-General Henry Hastings-
Affleck Wood, C.B., and has issue.

seton of mounie.

I. This is a branch of the Setons of Pitmedden, Bart.
The first of Mounie was George Seton, second son of Sir
Alexander Seton, first baronet of Pitmedden. He married,
about 1740, Anne Leslie, and had, with other issue, William
and Margaret. Mounie is in Aberdeenshire. It had a con-
nection of some kind with the Setons as early as 1557.

II. William Seton of Mounie. Born about 1750. An
officer in the Army. He paid much attention to agricultural
improvements on his estate, and died unmarried in London in
1781.

III. Margaret Seton, Heiress of Mounie. She was
born 30th April, 1749, and married, 10th of July, 1768,
James Anderson of Cobinshaw, LL.D., a gentleman of lit-
erary and scientific attainments. He assumed the surname
of Seton. Mrs. Seton died 26th November, 1788, and was
succeeded by her eldest son.

IV. Alexander Seton of Mounie. He married, in
18 10, his cousin, Janet Ogilvv, lineal descendant of the fifth
Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, by whom he had, with other issue,
Alexander, David, Isabella (who corresponded with mv aunt,
Catharine Seton, of New York), and Jessy-Jane, a " dear
childe, " who died at Pisa, Italy, and was buried not far from
my grandfather's tomb in the Protestant cemetery at Leghorn,
with this modest inscription: "To the Memory of Jessy-

1850] PROTESTANT CEMETERY IN LEGHORN. 175

Jane, Daughter of Alexander Seton Esq. of Mounie in
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who died on the 19th February,
1831, aged 14."

I had the pleasure of meeting in 1896 the Rev. E. L.
Gardner, then recently appointed chaplain " to the English
factory " at Leghorn, as one would have said a hundred years
ago, and I understood that it was his intention to write a his-
tory of this cemetery, the first of its kind, I believe, estab-
lished in Italy. Non-Catholics dying in that country a cen-

!lX.SCftIBT..l),J&V PERMISSION, TO TIIE KCYXTUiM) THOMAS HABVEV MJ\

' -/T73 / .

/ . , , ■ / ,

tury or two ago, when not brought back to their native land,
were almost always carried to Leghorn for interment; and I
have an idea that, if the last Earl of Winton did die in Rome
in 1749 — where a thorough search has been made, yet no
trace of his burial can be found — his body was brought to
Leghorn and deposited there.

Mr. Seton was a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy-Lieu-
tenant. He died at Leamington, England, whither he had
gone for the waters, 16th April, 1850, in the eighty-first year
of his age.

176 AN OLD FAMILY, [A.D.

V. Alexander Seton of Mounie. Was born in 18 15.
At the time of his succession to the estate, was Major in the
Seventy-fourth Highlanders, and in November, 1851, was
Lieutenant-Colonel of that famous regiment. " Being in
command of the troops on board H. M. S. ' Birkenhead '
when that vessel was lost, near Point Danger, Cape of Good
Hope, 26th February, 1852, he was drowned in the wreck,
but not until, by his self-devoted firmness and promptitude,
he had secured the safe removal of all the women and children
in the boats." There is a memorial tablet under the great
arcade of Chelsea (military) Hospital, put up at command of
the Queen, to " record the heroic constancy and unbroken
discipline " shown on this occasion by the officers, non-com-
missioned officers, and men who were lost, to the number of
357. Colonel Seton was unmarried.

VI. David Seton, Eso^, of Mounie. Born in 18 17.
At one time an officer in the Ninety-third Highlanders, and
afterward of the Forty-ninth Regiment. An accomplished
linguist and traveller, with a strong literary and antiquarian
bent, he took deep interest in everything connected with the
Seton family, whose characteristics he exhibited. He died in
Edinburgh on March 14, 1894, and, never having married,
was succeeded by his nephew.

VII. Alexander-David Seton, Esq^, (now) of Mounie.
Born 25th October, 1854. An officer in the Artillery. Mar-
ried, 1 2th February, 1879, Emily Isabel, second daughter of
Alfred Turner of Daysbrook, County Lancaster, England,
and has sons and daughters.

SETON OF CARISTON.

The founder of this line was the Hon. John Seton, born
about 1532, of George, sixth Lord Seton, by his first wife,
who was Elizabeth Hay, daughter of the third Lord Yester.

1 532-1585] JOHN SETON OF CARISTON. 177

He married a well-dowered heiress, Isabel, daughter to David
Balfour of Cariston, in the County of Fife. The Balfours
of Cariston are stated to have sprung from a younger son of
Balfour of that Ilk, before its heiress brought that ancient
heritage to the Bethunes, afterward Betons. A Balfour of
Cariston is found living in 1476, and is mentioned in the
records of the Parliament of Scotland in 1495.

I. John Seton of Cariston. By his lucky marriage he
had two sons : George, his heir, and John.

Sir John Seton, Captain in the Scots Guards in France,
married a daughter of the Count de Bourbon, and had, besides
a daughter, who married Adinston of that Ilk, an ancient Baron
in East Lothian, a son, also named John, and likewise an
officer in the Scots Guards, who, marrying a French lady,
settled in France in his manor house of Coulonniers, near
Meaux, leaving children, of whom "Jean de Seton' and
Henry de Seton; Catherine de Seton, wife of Claude de Bertin
de Relincourt, Knight ; Angelique de Seton, and four other
daughters, "professed nuns." Mr. George Seton obtained
from the records in the National Library at Paris a copy of
his last will and testament, which is dated 15th Mav, 166 1,
and has reproduced it, in the original and with an English
translation, in his Family of Seton, II., pp. 982—987.

II. George Seton of Cariston. Was born about 1554,
and succeeded his father before 20th July, 1573- He mar_
ried Margaret, daughter of Sir John Ayton of that Ilk, Countv
Fife, by whom he had, with other issue, George, his successor.
Ayton of Ayton is an old family that goes back to the twelfth
century.

III. George Seton of Cariston. Born in 1585, or
earlier; married Cecilia, eldest daughter of David Kynynmond
of that Ilk, County Fife, by his wife, Marion Seton, of the
familv of Parbroath. He had, with other issue, George, his
successor, and Isabella, who married her kinsman, Sir George

178 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

Seton of Parbroath. The family of Kynynmond is traced
back beyond u Eliseus de Kynynmond, Dominus ejusdem'''' in
1395. A Matthew Kynynmond was Bishop of Aberdeen in
1 172, and a John de Kynynmond, Bishop of Brechin in 1304.

IV. George Seton of Cariston. He succeeded his
father before 28th June, 1637, and u was a man of large
stature and fine accomplishments." He declined the honor
of knighthood, and was on terms of special intimacy with his
kinsman, the second Earl of Dunfermline. He was out
against the Covenanters at the battle of Bothwell Bridge.

By his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Seton
of Olivestob, he had, besides other issue, Christopher, his
heir, and Alexander, an officer in General DalyelPs troop of
horse at the battle of Pentland Hills. Married a daughter of
Lindsay of Pitscandly, County Forfar, and had one child,
who died young. He is probably the Captain Seton at whose
house, still standing in the village of Kennoway, Archbishop
Sharpe passed the night on the day before he was murdered
by religious fanatics on Magus Muir, near St. Andrew's.
George Seton died in 1688, aged sixty-six.

V. Christopher Seton of Cariston. Born in 1645.
Was Lieutenant in a troop of horse. Married Elizabeth,
eldest daughter of Patrick Lindsay of Woolmerston, County
Fife (ancestor of the present Earl of Lindsay), by whom he
had, besides one daughter, Catharine, married to John Lind-
say of Kirkforthar, two sons :

George, his heir, and Christopher, who, marrying Eliza-
beth, daughter of John Adair, Geographer Royal for Scotland,
left, with other issue, William-Carden, born 1775, Colonel
in the Army and Companion of the Bath. Commanded the
Eighty-eighth Regiment at Badajos and Salamanca in the
Peninsular War. Died 24th March, 1842, leaving, with
other issue, a son Miles-Charles, an officer in the Eighty-
fifth Regiment. Married, in 1841, the Hon. Mary-Ursula,

1637-1841] GEORGE SETON OF CARISTON. 179

eldest daughter of the second Viscount Sidmouth, by whom
he had, with other children, Bertram, born 1845, married
1869, Isabella-Mary, granddaughter of Sir Lawrence Cotter,
Bart., and has a son Malcolm, born 1872, who was educated
at Oxford, and passed for the Indian Civil Service. I had
the pleasure of meeting these Setons at Ilfracombe, in Eng-
land, in 1896.

Christopher Seton of Cariston died in 17 18, in his seventy-
third year.

VI. George Seton of Cariston. Married, first, Mar-
garet, eldest daughter of David Boswell of Balmuto, by whom
he had one son : George, his heir. He married, secondly, in
1722, Margaret, daughter of James Law of Brunton, County
Fife, by whom he had Christopher, "a rare genius" who
loved travel and adventure, and died at sea off the coast of
Guinea in 1744; and James, who, engaging in the rebellion
of '45, was wounded at Culloden, taken prisoner, and came
near having the honor of being hanged at Carlisle like a Jacob-
ite and a gentleman, but was saved through the influence of
the Earl of Crawford with a German prince who had
brought 6,000 Hessians to Scotland in the interest of the
House of Hanover.

James Seton subsequently went to Holland, and was pres-
ent, as an officer in the Dutch service, at the memorable siege
of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1747. He died — according to the
usual longevity of the Setons — in his eighty-eighth year, on
2d February, 18 17.

George Seton of Cariston died 9th June, 1760, in the sev-
enty-second year of his age.

VII. George Seton of Cariston. Married his cousin,
Jean Seton, and had, with other issue, George, his heir, and
Christopher, born 1754, an officer in the Fifty-fourth Regi-
ment in 1776, with which he served through the American
War. He also served in Flanders. William Cobbett, the

180 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1752

malignant Radical, had been a Sergeant in the Fifty-fourth,
and in 1792 spitefully accused Lieutenant Seton, Lieutenant
Hall, and Captain Powell of certain regimental irregularities,
for which they were tried by court-martial, and the charges
declared to be totally unfounded.

George Seton died 2d November, 1762.

VIII. George Seton of Cariston. Born in 1752. He
was a poor manager, and was finally forced to part with his
paternal estate, and sold Cariston about 1774. He was a
Lieutenant in the Fiftieth Regiment and a Captain in the
Seventy-eighth Highlanders, with which he served for a time
in the East Indies; but falling ill, was obliged to return to
Scotland and sell his commission. He died unmarried in
1797, when the representation of the family devolved first on
his brother, Major Christopher Seton, and after his death on
their sister Margaret, who married her kinsman, Henry Seton,
and had a son George.

IX. George Seton. Born at Leven, 6th August, 1769,
Commander in the Honorable East India Company's sea
service. He was well educated, a skilful navigator, and an
elegant draughtsman, whose adventurous spirit brought him
to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, India, Sumatra,
Batavia, and China. He settled for some years at Penang.
Afterward returned to Scotland and married, 1 2th of January,
1819, Margaret, daughter to James Hunter, Esq., of Seaside,
County Perth, and died 21st June, 1815.*

Captain Seton left one son and two daughters.

X. George Seton, Esq^, Present Representative of Cari-
ston. Born June 25, 1822, studied at Oxford, and took his
degree ; is a valued member of the Royal Society of Anti-
quaries of Scotland, a member of the Royal Archers (Her

* I look back with inexpressible joy to the hospitable entertainment re-
ceived forty years ago from this family and from others of the Seton kin,
living near beautiful Perth.

1895] COMING OF PARBROATH TO THE SETONS. 181

Majesty's bodyguard beyond the Tweed), and a writer on
several matters, one work from his pen being the best on the
subject ever published — viz., The Law and Practice of Her-
aldry in Scotland. It is called an ' ' admirable work " by no
less an authority than the late Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster, in
his own interesting Reminiscences. * Mr. Seton has travelled
extensively, and in his own venerable figure exemplifies the
proverbial tallness, dignified bearing, and longevity of the
family. He married, 26th of September, 1849, Sarah Eliza-
beth, daughter of James Hunter, Esq., of Thurston, County
Haddington, and by her, who died in 1883, had one son and
three daughters.

George, who, after a good education, travelled abroad and
resided for some time at Calcutta in India. Married, 2d
November, 1895, Amy Geraldine, only daughter of the late
Charles Moore, Esq., of Boston, U. S. A.

SETON OF PARBROATH.

The Setons of Parbroath are the earliest offshoot from the
main trunk of our family tree. They are, therefore, the
Senior cadets of the House of Winton, and are not least among
the genealogical Juniors, although I have left them to the last.

Maitland rather quaintly heads his chapter on them in this
manner: " Of Ye First Cuming of Parbroath To The Setouns,
And of The Successioun Yairof as Follouis. ' '

Sir Alexander Seton, who so valiantly defended Berwick
Town against the English in the first half of the fourteenth
century, had four lawful sons, two of whom, Thomas and
William, suffered death by order of Edward III. ; the third,
called Alexander, succeeded his father; the fourth was named

* I have the honor to have received a copy of these Reminiscences from
Sir Bernard's hands with this autograph inscription : " To Monsignor Seton,
with the author's esteem and regard. Dublin Castle, 21 Sept. 1889."

1 82 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1334

John. Among other rewards that the Governor of Berwick
received from his grateful king (David II.) was the gift of an
heiress, to be bestowed on one of his sons. This lady was
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Ramsay of Parbroath,
Knight, whom Alexander " gave in marriage to his son
called John." Such a transaction looks singular and even
outrageous to us, but it was quite natural in the Middle Ages,
and was not productive of any great abuse. *

I. Sir John Seton, First Baron of Parbroath. Parbroath
is usually pronounced in Scotland Petbroad, and on Ainslie's
Map of Fife, published in 1774, it is given as Pitbroad, which
would seem to mean Broadland (see note ahead under Pit-
cairn), a term well applied to this portion of land, which
forms a wide swale. John, fourth and youngest, but second
surviving son of Alexander Seton of Seton, married, as said,
some time after 1333, Elizabeth Ramsay, Heiress of Par-
broath. In the fourteenth century there were several cadets
of the House of Dalhousie settled in Fifeshire. The Ram-
says are a renowned Scotch family, and " the first person of
distinction who bore the name in Scotland was the Sir William
Ramsay whose noble and warlike character is eulogized by
Fordun. He was the friend of Robert Bruce, by whose side he
fought throughout the War of Independence, and was one of the
nobles who subscribed the celebrated Memorial to the Pope, in
1320, vindicating the rights and liberties of their country." \
The head of the family is the Earl of Dalhousie (creation 1633).

Sir John lived very happily with his wife, by whom, as a

* Among the casualties of superiority — as they were termed in the Scotch
feudal law — was the right of disposing in marriage of the only daughter of a
tenant in capite, who, at her father's death, became award of the king ; hence
an heiress was a positive prize to the feudal superior. He had the " casu-
alty " of her marriage when he gave his consent to it, and to marry her with-
out the royal assent was a much more serious thing than to elope, in this age,
with a ward in Chancery.

f Taylor : Great Historic Families, I., 309.

1400] ALEXANDER SETON OF P ARBROATH. 183

woman could not perform a knight's service, he became, jure
uxoris, one of the Lesser (sometimes called Minor) Barons of
Scotland.

Baronies were held directly of the king, and their attendant
rights and privileges included sac and soc, tol and tehm, infang-
thef, and pit and gallows. I have explained the meaning of
these words in an early note, but Warden's Angus, or Forfar-
shire, II., 283, does so, perhaps, more clearly, saying:
" These feudal terms signify the right of holding courts,
deciding pleas, imposing fines, taking tolls upon the sale of
goods, and punishing equally the thief caught with the stolen
property, or the homicide taken ' red hand ' within the bound-
ary of the manor. ' '

II. Alexander Seton, Second Baron of Parbroath. He
succeeded his father, Sir John, and married Mary Vipont, who
belonged to a very ancient and distinguished Anglo-Norman
family — called in charters de Veteri Ponte — now extinct.
They were brave and warlike. The Norman name was
Vieux-Pont, a great baronial name, taken from Vieux Pont-en-
Auge, near Caen. William fought at Hastings, and rose to
importance in England, holding at an early period the exten-
sive Barony of Westmoreland, which eventually passed to the
Cliffords through the marriage of Roger de Clifford with
Isabella, daughter and co-heiress of Robert de Vipont, lord
and hereditary sheriff of that extensive county. A branch
of the family was established in Scotland at an early date, the
first of the family to hold lands beyond the Tweed being
William de Veteriponte, who flourished in the middle of the
twelfth century, and had the greatest part of the Manor of
Langton, in Berwickshire.

About the period of this matrimonial alliance, Alan de
Vipont, a Scottish patriot, held Lochleven Castle for King
David Bruce.* Sir Walter Scott has made a member of the
* History of Lochleven Castle, p. 23, by Robert Burns-Begg.

1 84 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

family the hero of one of his matchless tales, and James
Grant has made Roland Vipont the last of his noble race in
the story of 'Jane Seton.

III. Sir Gilbert Seton, Third Baron of Parbroath. He
succeeded to Sir Alexander, his father. Married Marion,
daughter of Pitcairn of that Ilk.

Pitcairn is an old Fifeshire family; but it never rose to ter-
ritorial importance. A Johannes de Pitcairn figures as early
as 1250. The name is derived, perhaps, from those singu-
lar Druidical stones which are often the companions of the
chambered Cairns, and of the underground edifices called Picts'
Houses, for which, see Burton, History of Scotland, I., pp. 99
and 137. The old form of Pit, or Pitten, means a portion of
land or a small holding, and is sometimes connected with
Gaelic specific terms, so that Pitcairn might signify rather the
Land of the Cairn than the Picts' Cairn.* There have been
men of this name in science, literature, and civil employ-
ment. The u great man " of the family is Robert Pitcairn,
Commendator of Dunfermline, son of David Pitcairn of that
Ilk. He was born about 1530, bred to the Church, and pre-
ferred to the rich commendam of Dunfermline; but he remained
a layman, and married. Appointed an ordinary Lord of
Sessions on June 23, 1568, he frequently visited England on
the affairs of his partv. Died on October 18, 1584, and was
buried at Dunfermline, where a monument bearing a Latin
inscription was erected to his memory.

Others of the family were authors of works esteemed in
their day, and Dr. Archibald Pitcairn, in 1700, was " one of
the most conspicuous persons of his time in Scotland — one of
the few, moreover, known out of his own country, or destined
to be remembered in a future age." f Major (John) Pitcairn
was the only British officer always accounted fair in his deal-

* Skene : Foitr Ancient Books of Wales, I., 157.
f Chambers : Domestic Annals, III., 223.

1 490-150 1] MASTER DAVID SET ON. 185

ings with the people of Boston in their altercations with the
king's troops, yet he bore the stigma of Lexington, and was
killed at Bunker Hill. The name is, perhaps, now best
remembered in connection with that romantic island in the
Pacific Ocean discovered by Carteret in 1767 and named for
one of his officers, and since associated with the mutineers of
the " Bounty."

Sir Gilbert Seton had five sons by his wife, Marion Pit-
cairn : 1. Sir Alexander, of whom hereafter. 2. William,
whose son, also called William, married Catharine Butler,
Heiress of Rumgavie, and gave rise to the short-lived Setons
of Rumgavie, of whom William was killed at the battle of
Pinkie in September, 1547, leaving by Catharine Auchmuty,
his wife, a son and heir named David. 3. John, of whom
also hereafter. 4. Gilbert, " a Master clerk," a priest and
scholar, who died in Rome. 5. David, a priest. This last
one, called " Master David," was a strong character. He
was Rector of Fettercairn and Balhelnv, an important and
lucrative position in the Church at that time. He studied at
the University of Paris, where he took his degree of Doctor
of the Civil and Canon Law, which was an academic honor
infinitely rarer then than now, and in Scotland particularly.
His name turns up frequently in the public records; for in-
stance, as a witness to an instrument of resignation, on April
14, 1497, and again to a charter of confirmation to the Abbey
of Lindores given at Perth on November 9, 1500.* He was
a frank, energetic man, very large and tall, and much esteemed
by King James III. He lived to be over eighty. Sir Rich-
ard Alaitland gives a graphic account of the old priest's wit,
pugnacity, and devotion to his family chief, for whom he was
one of the legal advisers, on a certain occasion when King
James IV. came to the Council House at Edinburgh, to hear
a case tried against the then Lord Seton, in which he was per-
" Laing : Lindores Abbey and the Burgh of Newburgk, p. 4S6.

1 86 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1503

sonally interested. The royal advocates — Richard Lawson,
Justice Clerk, and his assistant, James Henryson (Henderson)
— emboldened by the king's presence, assumed an insolent tone
and laid down the law with unbearable presumption. Then
the Reverend Doctor stood up and said in a loud voice, play-
ing on his opponent's vulgar name: " Howbeit they call you
Laws-son, vou are not Law-s-father, to make laws at your
pleasure." Then turning to the King, he said: " Sir, when
our ancestors got that land from your most noble predecessors
for their true service — sometimes giving the blood of their body
and sometimes their lives in defence of this realm ; at that time
there was neither Lawson nor Henryson who would find ways
to disinherit the Barons of Scotland." The King's Grace
then answered Master David saying: " How now, you for-
get yourself; you remember not where you are; you are more
like a champion than an advocate; it looks as though you
would fight for the matter." Then up spoke Master David
and said: " Sir, and it might stand with your Grace's pleas-
ure, I pray God if it come to that, to see if both Lawson
and Henryson dare fight with me, in that quarrel, old as I
am ' ' : (for he was then more than sixty). The King, who
was a humane prince, considering the man's age and his
great affection for his Chief, smiled and laughed a little and
said no more. With all his bluffhess, David was a whole-
souled priest, and made himself a general favorite, as we can
well imagine from what Sir Richard Maitland says of him :
" He was a singularly honest man, and married all his eldest
brother's daughters, after his decease, on landed men and paid
their doweries, and got ladies of heritage for his brother's
sons." * Bless his memory.

IV. Sir Alexander Seton, Fourth Baron of Parbroath.
Sir Alexander succeeded his father. He was troubled during
several years — J49° to I5°3 — about a land dispute with

* llistorie, p. 25.

I493-I5I21 A GREAT ALLIANCE. 187

Michael Balfour of Burleigh. Lord Glamys, Justiciar of
Scotland, chose him for one of his seven counsellors in the
controversy between the Abbey of Lindores and the Burgesses
of Newburgh, which was decided and recorded in a document
at Lindores, on January 15, 1493, °f wmcn David Seton,
Rector of Fettercairn, was one of the witnesses.

He married Helen, daughter of a great Highland chief —
Sir William Murray of Tullibardine — and had a son Alex-
ander, who died before his father, and other sons and daugh-
ters, whose names are not recorded, but who were all well
settled in life by their provident uncle, Master David Seton.
The Parbroaths must have been people of superior sub-
stance and consideration at this time, to have contracted so
great an alliance. Dame Helen's mother was Margaret,
daughter to Sir John Stewart, son of the Black Knight of
Lorn, who was created Earl of Athole in 1457. The Murrays
were a very ancient and very eminent family. Their founder
settled in Scotland in the reign of David I., and got extensive
possessions in Moray, from which he took the name De Mora-
via, Moray, Murray. Sir William de Moravia acquired the
lands of Tullibardine with his wife Adda, daughter to Malise,
Seneschal of Strathern, as appears by charters of a.d. 1282
and 1284. His descendant is the Duke of Athole, who has
more titles than any other nobleman in Great Britain, besides
inheriting half a dozen co-heirships to old English baronies.
His eldest son bears the courtesy title of Marquess of Tulli-
bardine.

Younger branches of the family received the peerages of
Dunmore, Mansfield, and Elibank, and the baronetcies of
Blackbarony, Clermont, and Ochtertyre.

V. Alexander Seton, Younger, of Parbroath. Not
much is known of him except that he was alive on the 10th
of March, 15 12, but must have died soon after, and only a
little before his father. He also made a powerful alliance,

1 88 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 15 13

marrying Catharine, daughter of Patrick, fourth Lord Lindsay
of the Byres, and Isabella, daughter to Pitcairn of that Ilk, his
wife, by whom he left three sons : John, Andrew, and David,
and a daughter named Janet.

There were several considerable families of Lindsay in
England in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the surname
being first assumed by the proprietor of the lands or manor of
Lindsay, County Essex, who was probably of Norman origin.
One of the knights of this family, following so many other
successful adventurers, migrated farther north, and founded
the illustrious House of Lindsay in Scotland. The head of
the family is Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, County Fife.
The Lords Lindsay of the Byres (now represented by the Earl
of Lindsay) spring from Sir William Lindsay, third son of
Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, who obtained from King
David II. the Barony of Byres in East Lothian.

VI. John Seton, Fifth Baron of Parbroath. John suc-
ceeded his grandfather, and on July 28, 15 12, obtained a very
honorable and advantageous renewal charter of the lands and
Barony of Parbroath from King James IV. He lived to
enjoy his estate only a few months, dying unmarried, on
Flodden Field, beside his chief, the fifth Lord Seton, on
September 9, 1513. Tytler the historian says (V., 67) of
this tremendous day :

" The names of the gentry who fell are too numerous for recapitulation,
since there were few families of note in Scotland which did not lose one
relative or another, whilst some houses had to weep the death of all."

I spent a day about Flodden in August, 1889; and nothing
can be conceived more affecting to an American of Scottish
ancestry than to wander among the ruins of Norham Castle,
walk over the Bridge of Twizel, drink of Sybil Grey's foun-
tain, and view the Trysting Stone near which the king made
a last stand with the remnants of his dismounted chivalrv :

1549] ANDREW SETON OF P ARBROATH. 189

No one failed him ! He is keeping

Royal State and semblance still ;

Knight and Noble lie around him,

Cold on Flodden's fatal hill.

— Aytoun.

VII. Andrew Seton, Sixth Baron of Parbroath. Andrew
Seton succeeded his elder brother, killed at Flodden.

He figured with his brother David in the Privy Seal Regis-
ter on 15th December, 1526, and again on 10th March,
1529— 1530, and upward of twenty years later (25th Feb-
ruary, 1552— 1553) he appears in the Register of Acts and
Decreets, always about some dispute of property or trouble
between political parties.

Andrew Seton married a daughter, whose name, unfortu-
nately, is not stated, of Balfour, Laird of Burleigh, now rep-
resented in the Peerage by Lord Balfour of Burleigh. The
Barony of Balfour, in Fife, gave name to an ancient family
long heritable proprietors of the place. The lands of Bur-
leigh were acquired by Sir John Balfour of Balgarvie, Kt.,
and erected for him into a free barony, temp. James II., in
1445— 1446. Sir Michael Balfour of Burleigh, an eminent
diplomat, was created Lord Balfour of Burleigh on 7th
August, 1606. His descendant, Robert, Master of Burleigh,
was attainted for his part in the Rebellion of 17 15, and died
s. p. in 1757; but the attainder was reversed by act of Parlia-
ment in 1869, and the title awarded to the great-grandson of
his sister Mary, who married General Alexander Bruce of
Kennet.

By this marriage Andrew Seton had a son Gilbert, who
succeeded him, and two daughters, Margaret and Christian.
Margaret married Thomas Lumsden of Airdrie about Jan-
uary, 1549-

The estate of Airdrie was purchased in 1409 by John
Lummysden of Glengyruoch (Gleghorn), who in 1450
assumed the designation of " Airdrie." It was alienated

190 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 15 17

from the family in 1607. The Lumsdens of that Ilk first
settled in Berwickshire; and Thomas de Lumsden, a cadet
of the family, moved into Fife previous to 1353, having
received grants of land there from Earl Duncan.

Christian married David Pitcairn, son and heir of Pitcairn
of Forthir, and was his widow before 1st February, 1553—
1554, as established by an entry in the Register of Acts and
Decreets.

Andrew Seton was engaged in the difficult and gallant cap-
ture of Broughtv Castle from the English on the 23d June,

1549-

VIII. Gilbert Seton, Younger, of Parbroath. Gilbert

Seton died before his father, being killed at the disastrous
battle of Pinkie in 1547. He married Helen Leslie, daugh-
ter to the fourth Earl of Rothes, by whom he left a son David
and two daughters, Marion and Janet.

The Leslies were a very ancient and noble family, which
deduces its descent from Bartholomew De Leslyn, who
settled in Aberdeenshire temp. William I. The sixth in suc-
cession from the Founder obtained the Barony of Rothes by
marriage with Mary, daughter and co-heir of Sir Alexander
Abernethy of Abernethy. His descendant, George Leslie,
was created before March 20, 1457, Earl of Rothes. Gilbert
Seton' s daughter Marion married David Kynnynmond of
that Ilk and Craighall, County Fife; and their oldest daugh-
ter, Cecilia, married, in 1620, George Seton, third of Caris-
ton. Of his other daughter, Janet, it is known that there
was a contract of marriage dated April 30, 1567, with James
Hamilton of Sammuelston, who was descended from James
Hamilton, first Earl of Arran.

IX. Sir David Seton, Seventh Baron of Parbroath.
David was served heir to his grandfather, Andrew Seton, in
1563. He was at one period in danger of his life or liberty,
and, for a time at least, his estate was escheated to the

1590] SIR DAVID SETON OF PARBROATH. 191

crown ; but he received a pardon, and was restored on April

2> I573-

His offence consisted in assisting and participating with

Chatellerault, Huntly, Kirkcaldy of Grange, and others in
" fortifying and detaining the castle and burgh of Edinburgh
against the King and his Regent."

At Holyrood House, on March 16, 1587-1588, a letter was
granted, with consent of Sir John Seton of Barnes, Keeper of
the Rolls, to David Seton of Parbroath, appointing him Ranger
of the East and West Lomonds of Falkland. These are two
beautiful conical hills, appertaining then to the roval domain
in Fifeshire. They both rise but little less than two thou-
sand feet, and are visible at a considerable distance. By what
influence or for what service he received this profitable posi-
tion is not known ; but he must have been a man of parts and
of great integrity, for he filled the important office of Comp-
troller of the Scottish Revenue from 1589 to 1595. In the
Manuscript Department of the British Museum I was shown
fifteen Seton headings in the index to letters and papers, and
the originals were put in my hands. *

I have examined there a curious u Audit of Accounts of
Sir John Maitland of Thirlestane, Lord Chancellor of Scot-
land, of moneys expended in 1589, 1590, on the visit of
James VI. to Norway and Denmark, on the occasion of his
marriage, dated in Mar. 1593 (4)> with signatures." I saw
the autograph " Parbrothe Controller" [sic] five times. In
another document the Comptroller signs himself simply " Par-
broth," because Lairds, as the lesser barons were denomi-
nated— the greater ones being Lords — belonging as they did to
the higher gentry, and possessing a tract of land with tower,
castle, or mansion on it, called a Lairdship and held in caplte
of the Crown, were frequently known not by their family

* The affability of British officials is proverbial, and they always seem to
redouble their pains to oblige Americans.

192 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. i6or

names, but by that of their estates — a style, now at least,
peculiar to Scotland and derived originally from France. Peers
always sign by their titles. But all peerages are founded on a
barony ; hence, even in modern times no one is created a peer,
no matter by what higher title, without an inferior one of baron
being annexed to it — and all baronies were originally the estate
of the peer.

Such things as abstract baronies — making a man baron of a
place where he does not hold an acre of land — are modern
inventions.

Sir David is mentioned for the last time (Register of Acts
and Decreets) on 7th February, 1592— 1593. He died on
the 24th November, 1601. His son Robert was " Ex-
ecutor-dative Surrogate' of his will. He was the most
distinguished man of the Setons of Parbroath, and raised his
family to a high degree of prosperity, from which it almost
immediately and unaccountably fell.

Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet * says of him: " David Seton
of Parbroath, was comptroller in Queen Mary's time, but his
son disponed the whole lands, and they are now in the pos-
session of the Earl of Crawford ; so that the memory of that
family is extinguished, albeit, it was very numerous, and
brave men descended thereof."

He was Comptroller in King James's time, but seems to
have been a faithful servant of that monarch's mother. The
most precious heirloom in the family which represents Par-
broath is a small portrait of Mary Stuart, of which my friend
Mr. Laurence Hutton writes :

" An interesting- miniature of the Scottish Queen is now in America.
As it has never been engraved or publicly exhibited it is little known to col-
lectors. It represents her at half length. The dress is black, trimmed
around the neck, arms and upon the bosom with eider-down. Between the
large ruff of the down about her neck and the neck itself, is a fine, upright
collar of stiff lace. On the head and falling back over the neck is a black

* Staggering State of Scottish Statesmen : Comptrollers, 4.

SETON MINIATURE OF QUEEN OF SCOTS. 195

velvet coif. The hair is what is called ' Titian gold.' The background of
the picture is dark blue, and contains the legend ' Maria . Regina . Scotorum.'
In the case of polished wood which holds it is a gold plate with the follow-
ing inscription : ' This original portrait of Queen Mary Stuart is an heirloom
in the family of the Setons of Parbroath — now of New York — into whose
possession it came through their ancestor, David Seton of Parbroath, who
was Comptroller of the Scottish Revenue from 1589 to 1595, and a loyal ad-
herent of his unfortunate Sovereign. It was brought to America in 1763 by
William Seton, Esquire, representative of the Parbroath branch of the
ancient and illustrious family of the forfeited Earls of Winton.' There is a
tradition that this picture was the gift of the Queen to her faithful servant,
David Seton, who, although a member of the Kirk of Scotland, was never
counted among her personal foes. A copy of it was presented by the late
William Seton in 1855 to Prince Labanoff,* who believed it to be from life,
and surmised that it was taken during her captivity. The face is beautiful
but no longer young." f

Sir David Seton of Parbroath married Mary, daughter of
Patrick, sixth Lord Gray of Broxmouth, by his wife Mary,
daughter to Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney. The family of
Gray* was ancient, and has played a part at different periods
of Scottish history. The first to settle in Scotland, in the
time of William the Lion, was a younger son of Gray of
Chillingham, a Norman family established in the North of
England. A priest of the name, (Sir) Thomas Gray, is inti-
mately connected with the patriot Wallace as companion,
friend, and biographer. Sir Andrew Gray had charters of
Broxmouth from King Robert Bruce, early in the fourteenth
century. His descendant, Andrew Gray, was raised to the
peerage in 1444. The title became merged in 1878 in that
of Moray, by the marriage in 1763 of Jane, daughter of the
eleventh Lord Gray, with Francis, ninth Earl of Moray. By
this marriage Sir David Seton had six sons and three daughters :

1. George, his successor.

'::' Prince Alexander Labanoff de Rostoff was devoted to the memory of
Queen Mary Stuart. He published in 1844 a very valuable work ir eight
volumes : Lettres, Instructions et Me'moires de Marie Stuart Reine d 'Acosse,
a copy of which he gave to my father.

f Essay on " The Portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots."

196 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1630

2. Andrew, witness to a royal charter dated at Edinburgh,

1598.

3. Robert, witness to a charter granted by his father, and
" dated at Parbroithe, 9th May 1601."

4. William, mentioned in a charter u confirmed at Holy-
rood house, 2d December 1602."

5. David, mentioned in the Privy Seal Register in 1581.
He possessed the lands of Kinglass in November, 1633; mar-
ried Jane Kinninmonth, and had two children, David and
Jean. He was called Captain David Seton, and is last heard
of in 1646.

6. John, went from London to Virginia on August 7,
1635. Probably died without issue or moved to some
other part of the world, for he cannot be traced in the
Colonies.

1. Margaret, married Sir John Scrymgeour of Dudhope,
who was created a Viscount in 1641. Their grandson
became Earl of Dundee. Sir John Scrvmgeour was made
Hereditary Standard Bearer of Scotland by Charles I., an
honor now held by the descendant of this marriage, Scrym-
geour-Wedderburn of Wedderburn and Birkhill. Of the
three daughters of Sir John Scrymgeour and Margaret Seton
of Parbroath —

A. Magdalen, the eldest, married Sir Alexander Irvine of
Drum. Their son refused the Earldom of Aberdeen, offered
by King Charles II.

B. Jean, married Sir Thomas Thompson of Duddingston,
who received a baronetcy (now extinct) in 1636.

C. Mary, married Sir James Haliburton.

2. Mary, married David Skene of Potterton, now repre-
sented by Skene of Rubislaw. The family of Skene is one of
antiquity in Aberdeenshire, where it always maintained the
rank of free barons, and takes its name from the castle of
Skene, which they owned in the thirteenth century. The

1640] THE LAST SETON OF PARBROATH. 197

name itself of Skene means a kind of short dagger, in use
among the Highlanders of Scotland.

3. Elizabeth, mentioned in a charter by which her father
provides for her support.

X. Sir George Seton, Eighth and Last Baron of Par-
broath. His seal, from the Glammis Charters of the year
1601, is given by Mr. Laing in his Catalogue of Ancient Scot-
tish Seals, and will be referred to in the chapter on the Her-
aldry of the Setons. Seven years later he occupied premises
in the Rectory of Dysart, a parish in Fifeshire, on the Firth
of Forth, whence it may be inferred, not that he had already
sold Parbroath, but that he could not keep it up. Yet by
what disaster or on what occasion he fell from his compara-
tively high estate is absolutely unknown. The property
was extensive, and some idea of its value can be got from
a charter dated at Parbroath, the 9th of May, 1601, and
confirmed by the king at Edinburgh on 26th day of June,
same year, in which " the lands and Barony of Parbroath '
are described as consisting of the " manor and mains of Par-
broath, lands of Landisfern, with the mill, annualment of
£6 from the lands of Ramsay-Forthir; lands of Urquharts,
namelv Easter, Middle and Loppie Urquharts; lands of Kin-
gask, with the manor; lands of Lillok, in the shire of Fife;
lands of Haystoun and Scroggarfield, in the shire of Forfar;
with castles, manors, parks, forests, fishing, etc., the teinds
and advocation of the rectorage and vicarage of the parish
church of Creich, in Fife, united to the said barony."

George Seton married twice. His first wife was Jean Sin-
clair, daughter of Henry, third Lord Sinclair, by whom he
had issue; but nothing special is known of the children, who
were living with their mother at Dysart in 1609. They
must have died young. His second wife was Isabella, daugh-
ter of George Seton of Cariston, great-grandson of the sixth
Lord Seton, by whom he had two sons : James, who died in

198 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. ioso

Spain, unmarried, and Robert, who is last heard of near
Hawick in Roxburghshire, where he married the daughter
of a gentleman of the neighborhood — her name unknown —
and had a son called James, of whom hereafter.

The Barony of Parbroath had been in the family for three
hundred years, but the estate was sold to the Lindsays before
1633, because in that year one of them was created Earl of
Lindsay and Lord Parbroath. It now belongs to the Hopes.
It was situated on the north side of the County of Fife, and
in the Parish of Creich. Sir Robert Sibbald refers, in his His-
tory of Fife and Kinross, published in 17 10, to the " ruins of
the house of Parbroath, the dwelling of a gentleman of the
name of Seton, descended from the brave governor of Ber-
wick " ; and the following reference to the ancient mansion is
found in the New Statistical Account of Scotland (IX., 645) :

" Of this house or castle, which belonged to the family of Seton, nothing
now remains to mark the site save part of an arch, surrounded by a few old
trees, which has been carefully preserved by desire of the late Earl of
Hopetoun. It stands near to the place where the road between the Forth
and Tay ferries crosses the road from Cupar to Newburgh. The house is
said to have been surrounded by a moat, over which there was a drawbridge,
and the park in which they were situated is still called the Castlefield.
There is a tradition that one of the late farm-buildings at Parbroath, which
was long used as a barn, had at one time been a chapel, and that at it, and
the Church of Creich, divine service was performed on alternate Sabbaths.
In confirmation of a chapel having been here, it may be stated that, a few
years ago, when the foundation of a wall was dug up close by the site of the
old barn, some graves were discovered, which probably formed part of the
burying-ground connected with the chapel."

The situation of Parbroath, four miles and a half from
Cupar, is in a tract of valley land enclosed by high and beau-
tifully rounded hiils. The present road runs right through
this valley and the Parbroath farm of four hundred and twentv
acres, but the old one ran across the hills behind it. The
fragment of an arch now stands in a large cultivated field, a
square of about fourteen acres. A short distance bevond it is

OLD DOVECOTE AT PARBROATH.

20 1

a deserted dovecote, and a little farther on is a picturesque
knoll surrounded by a clump of trees. These large, square,
and towerlike Dovecotes, or Dookits, as they are locally called,
with their slanting roofs and crow-step gables, are a peculiarity
of Scottish Lairdships, and particularly common in Fifeshire.
I imagine that they are an importation from France origi-
nally, where the Droit du Colombier, especially that kind, as at

>Tmni?rmn«^^

OLD ABANDONED " DOOKIT AT PARBROATH.

Parbroath, which Taine {Ancien Regime) calls " grand Colom-
bier a pied," was a feudal right of the baron. No one, how-
ever, could raise a dookit by Scotch law, unless he cultivated
a considerable amount of land around it. Perhaps it was one
of these trees still remaining that furnished the plain round
snuffbox, lead-lined, and having a slender silver rim running
around the lower edge of the cover, which belonged to John
Seton, father of William Seton of New York, and which has

202 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

an inscription on the inside, saying that it u is made out of a
piece of wood cut from a favorite tree that stood near the
ancient castellated mansion of the Setons of Parbroath." On
my visit to this place I saw some bits of old wall and a stone-
faced dyke; and behind the farm-house, built in 1806, some
parts of an old building once a chapel, but now used as a
barn. A sun-dial and a mitred figure — the bust only — are
set on the gable end near a chimney. They were dug up
here some years ago. An eminence on the other side of the
lane leading from the public road to the farm-house is still
called Hawk Hill, reminding the visitor that the sport of
hawking or falconry was one of the most fascinating of feudal
pastimes among the higher classes. Many agates which take
a fine polish strew the ground, one of which — larger than the
rest — the obliging tenant-farmer, Mr. Russell, picked up and
gave me. I had it polished, mounted, and inscribed on my
return to New York. At different times (besides the graves
near the chapel mentioned in the extract from the Neiu Statis-
tical Account), cists, urns, and calcined bones — some of them
having been enclosed in thin cairns or tumuli — have been dug
up at Parbroath, and would seem to indicate that there was an
early Pictish settlement there. The word " Creich," which
gave its name to the parish, comes from the Gaelic Craigich,
meaning rockv or craggy ground, a description applicable to
some parts of Parbroath. The present farm is only a small
portion of the original estate.

SETON OF LATHRISK.

This was an offshoot of Parbroath. John, third son of Sir
Gilbert Seton, third Baron of Parbroath, and of Marion Pit-
cairn, his wife, married Janet, daughter and heiress to Lath-
risk of that Ilk, in the County of Fife, and was ancestor of
the Setons of Lathrisk and Balbirnie. About the year 1180

151 1-64] JOHN SETON OF LATHRISK. 203

there is mention " of the church of Losresch in Fife," which
appears to be the modern Lathrisk. This is the earliest notice
of the place. As a family name — taken by some adventurous
knight who received land there — it first appears in Ragman
Rolls, where we find William of Latheresk (Lathrisk) swear-
ing fealty to Edward I. in the Parliament held by him at
Berwick in 1296. Sir Robert Sibbald, the historian of Fife,
writes of" Lathrisk, an old house with gardens and enclo-
sures, the seat of Mr. Patrick Seton, a cadet of the Earls of
Winton : a predecessor of his got these lands by marrying the
heiress of the same name with the lands." Lathrisk was pro-
nounced Larisse.

John Seton of Lathrisk first appears in a charter given to
him on 10th of August, 151 1, of certain lands in the Barony
of Lathrisk and Sheriffdom of Fife.

II. John Seton of Lathrisk. In the lifetime of his
parents (John Seton and Janet Lathrisk) he had a charter
from King James IV., dated at Edinburgh, 11th April, 1495,
of the lands of Wester Lathrisk. He married Janet Auch-
muty. She belonged to an old Fifeshire family, Auchmuties
of that Ilk being traced back to " Florentine Auchmutv de
eodem, who flourished in 1334." By her he had John, his
successor. Christopher, a priest and vicar of Strathmiglo in
1 55 1. Elizabeth, married before 1564 to James Spens of
Lathallan, of an ancient familv immortalized in the grand
old ballad of " Sir Patrick Spens" and a terrible shipwreck,
which ends with the lines :

" Half over, half over to Aberdour,
'Tis fifty fathoms deep,
And there lies good Sir Patrick Spens,
With the Scots Lords at his feet ! "

William Spens of Lathallan married, before 1385, Isabel,
daughter and heiress of Duncan Campbell of Glendouglas.
Several of the family served in the Scots Guards in France.

204 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1600

I believe that the last of the family was a gallant young officer
killed a few years ago at Cabul during the campaign of Lord
Roberts in Afghanistan.

Janet, married to Bernard Oliphant of the family of Sir
William Oliphant of Aberdalgie, who so gallantly defended
Stirling Castle against King Edward I. in 1304. His grand-
son was created Lord Oliphant before 1456. The peerage
is dormant or extinct since 1 75 1 . The family is now repre-
sented by Oliphant of Gask.

Margaret, married to Robert Hunter of Newton Rires, son
of Patrick Hunter of Newton Rires, and of Dorothy Forbes,
whose father, John Forbes, married Barbara Sandiland of St.
Monans.

III. John Seton of Lathrisk. We know little of him,
except that he married Alice Bonar. The Bonars of Rossie,
in Fife, are mentioned as landowners in the middle of the
fifteenth century. He had several sons, and among them
George, James, and Patrick. Jane, the daughter of James
Seton, married Robert Echlin, of the Echlins of Pitaddro,
who in 1 60 1 was Minister of Inverkeithing in Fife, but in
16 13 became Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland. Their
great-grandson, Sir Henry Echlin, was created a baronet in
1721.

Captain Patrick Seton, the fifth and youngest son, is a pic-
turesque figure. He had served in the famous corps of Scots
men-at-arms, or " Mounted Scots Guard," which became
later (under Louis XIV.) the Gens d* Armes Ecossais and the
first cavalry regiment in France after that of the Royal
Household, called Mahon du R.0'1. Patrick remained all his
life a bachelor, but not because he was too poor to marry,
judging from his will. He had probably been crossed in love
early in life. He died at Elgin, in the house of his distant
kinsman, Alexander Seton, Lord Fyvie, on 16th February,
1600, leaving by will, dated two days previously, 900 merks

1642] CAPTAIN PATRICK SETON'S WILL. 205

and his saddle-horse to John Seton, his nephew and heir-of-
line; and 200 merks, " together with his bracelets of gold,"
a silver salt-cellar, two spoons, and a cup to his niece, Janet
Duddingstoun, Lady Lathallan; to Isabel Swinton, his god-
child, lawful daughter to Mark Swinton, 300 merks ; to
David Seton, his nephew in France, 500 merks; to Thomas
and Henry Oliphant his nephews, to George Seton his
nephew, to Janet Seton his niece, sister to Margaret Seton,
spouse to Mark Swinton, various legacies ; to Patrick Spens,
his godson, his draught-horse, with 100 merks of silver.
The original is a study in English, showing us how, in our
language, things left in a rude or uncultivated state were
called by Saxon terms, but when made fit for the use of
gentle-folks were called by Norman-French names ; thus, in
the original :

" I leif to Patrick Spens, my God sone, my hors.

" Item, I lief my montur ... to John Seytoun my nevoy and
air," etc. In both cases a horse is meant ; only Patrick Spens got a
common horse and John Seton a trained horse : called a " Monture " because
it can be mounted. — Francisque Michel : Civiliz. in Scot — " The
Horse."

Scott draws attention to this curiosity of the language — these
studies in English — in the first chapter of Ivanhoe.

IV. George Seton, Younger, of Lathrisk. He was
alive in 1575, but died before his father. It is not known
whom he married. He had a son John, who succeeded his
grandfather.

After this, notices of the Lathrisk family become fewer and
fainter.

Alexander Seton of Lathrisk assisted at the public funeral
of the Earl of Dunfermline in 1622, and was soon afterward
captain of a body of 500 soldiers raised by him for the Ger-
man wars — then raging — in which he was killed.

On the 19th August, 1642, John Seton of Lathrisk is men-
tioned in a charter of Charles I.

206 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

John Seton of Balfour and Catharine Halyburton of Pitcur,
his spouse, had a daughter " Agnes, who married, in 1657,
Seton of Lathrisk."

The last Laird of Lathrisk was John Seton, and about 1720
the property passed away from the family, which then sank
into obscurity.

THE SETONS OF CLATTO.

There was a disreputable family of Setons who lived some
four hundred years ago on Clatto Hill in Fifeshire. Their
crimes brought them finally to a tragic and sudden end. It
is only too probable that they were a branch of Parbroath.
It was a lawless age, and it is a long time ago. The story is
told by the Rev. Peter Barclay in the Old Statistical Account
of Scotland^ I., 381, as follows:

' The lands of Clatto, which constitute the east end of the parish of
Kettle, and through which lay the old road from Cupar to Kinghorn,
belonged to a family of Setons who are celebrated in tradition for the most
cruel robberies and murders. The grounds about Clatto Den are still
desert. In the face of the brae, which forms one side of the den, is a cave
that is said to communicate with the old castle or tower of Clatto, a furlong
distant, the remains of which are still visible. The same cave is said to
have had another opening to the road, at which the assailant rushed out on
the heedless passengers, and dragged them into the cavern, whence there
was no return. All appearance of a cave is now obliterated by the breaking
down of the banks. A similar cavern was found not many years ago at
Craighall in Ceres parish. Of these Setons many stories, replete with the
superstitions of preceding ages, are still current among the country people.
One may suffice. One of the Scottish kings, said to be James IV., passing
that way alone, as was common in those days, was attacked by a son of
Seton's. The king having a hanger concealed under his garment, drew it,
and with a blow cut off the right hand that seized his horse's bridle. This
hand he took up, and rode off. Next clay, attended by a proper retinue, he
visited the Castle of Clatto, wishing to see Seton and his sons, who were
noted as hardy, enterprising men, fitted to shine in a more public station.
The old man conducted his family into the king's presence. One son alone
was absent. It was said that he had been hurt by an accident, and was
confined to bed. The king insisted on seeing him, and desired to feel his
pulse. The young man held out his left hand. The king would feel the

1647-1799] SETON-KARRS OF KIPPILAW. 207

other also. After many ineffectual excuses, he was obliged to confess that
he had lost his right hand. The king told him that he had a hand in his
pocket, which was at his service if it would fit him. Upon this they were all
seized and executed."

After the ruin and extirpation of these unworthy Setons,
their property, which was confiscated, passed by purchase to
the family of Learmonth. David, father of Sir James Lear-
month, was Laird of Clatto in 1520.

SETON-KARR OF KIPPILAW.

These Setons are sprung paternally from Daniel Seton of
Powderhall, near Edinburgh, whose great-grandfather, David
Seton, was admitted a burgess of Burntisland, Fifeshire, on
February 17, 1647, anc^ wno mignt De conjectured from cer-
tain heraldic coincidences to have belonged to the Parbroath
branch. They are likewise descended from the ancient family
of Kerr — pronounced (as now written by this branch) Karr —
and of that particular line called Kerr of Zair, or Yair. They
burv in Melrose Abbey, and on the north wall of the nave,
just beyond the carved doorway that leads from the cloisters, I
saw an heroic inscription referring to them, which Washington
Irving so justly admired :

" Heir lyis the race of ye hous of Zair."

On one of the tombs we read this inscription :

" Here lyes leutenant collonel Andrew Ker of Kipplaw, who was born
at melros the 23 febbuary 1620 years and died at Kippelaw, upon the 3
febbuary 1697, in the 77 year of his age."

This colonel's grandson, John Karr of Kippilaw, died un-
married in 1746, after executing a will bv which his estate
came, in 1799, to his great-nephew John Seton, eldest son of
Daniel Seton of Powderhall, who assumed the surname of
Karr in addition to his own. Several of the descendants of
Daniel Seton of Powderhall distinguished themselves in India

208 AN OLD FAMILY.

and elsewhere in the civil or military service of the Govern-
ment, and his great-great-grandson is the present —

Henry Seton-Karr of Kippilaw, M.P. Mr. Seton is
married and has issue. His brother, Heywood Walter Seton-
Karr, is a great traveller and a noted sportsman, and has writ-
ten some interesting books, while his uncle, Walter Scott
Seton-Karr (born 23d January, 1822), passed through the
Sepoy Mutiny with credit, and has published a volume on
Lord Cornwallis in the (< Rulers of India " series.

i794] THE BATLETS. 275

" The Post goes off here at eleven O'clock & that but once a day, which
makes me in such a hurry, as you may see by my writing. Give my love to
Peggy, for my letter must go directly to the Post.

" I am,

" Your affectionate grandson,

"Wm. Seton."

William left school at sixteen, and afterward travelled for
several years — sometimes alone, sometimes with one of the
Curzons — in Holland, France, Italy, and Spain. His letters
home and a Journal he kept are very interesting reading.
Like many of his Scotch ancestors, he was devoted to poetry
and music. He was a skilful player on the violin, and the
possessor of the only genuine Stradivarius in New York a
hundred years ago, which he brought from Cremona with the
utmost care, never letting it out of his sight until he got back
to America. He was a popular member in this city of the
Columbian Anacreontic Society, and his beautifully engraved
silver badge is now in our possession. He was in partner-
ship with his father as one of the firm of Seton, Maitland &
Company. On the 25th January, 1794, he was married, by
Bishop Provoost, to Elizabeth-Ann Bayley, who was born in
the city of New York on the 28th August, 1774, the younger
of the two daughters of Richard Bayley, M.D., and of Catha-
rine Charlton, whose father was rector of Saint Andrew's
Church at Richmond on Staten Island. The facilities for
female education were then few in her native city, but of such
as offered she made a good use, and while still young learned
music, French, and drawing. She was very fond of reading :
her manuscript books, in which she made extracts from her
favorite authors, show that they were chiefly serious writers,
treating historical and religious subjects.

The Bayley family has made its mark in America as having
produced Richard Bayley, M.D., who, after studying medicine
under the celebrated Dr. Hunter in London, began life as
stafF-surgeon to General Sir Guy Carleton in New York, and

276 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

became the most eminent physician of his day in America;
Elizabeth Seton, his daughter, Foundress of the Sisters of
Charity in the United States, and better known as u Mother
Seton"; James Roosevelt Bayley, his grandson, first Bishop
of Newark and eighth Archbishop of Baltimore.

The first of the family to come to the Colonies was William
Bayley,* a younger son of the Bayleys of Hoddeston, in Hert-
fordshire, England, whose arms were argent, three torteaux —
two and one, a chief gules. He sailed from Lynn Regis for
New York in 1726. He was a gentleman of means and
education, and came originally only on his travels, but falling
in love with Susanna, the beautiful daughter of William Le
Compte, or Le Conte as he always wrote it, of the French
settlement at New Rochelle, New York, he married her and
remained here. His wife's family is said, in Baird's History
of the Huguenot Emigration to America (II., p. 75), to derive
from Guillaume le Conte, who was born in Rouen, March 6,
1659, an^ died in New York in 1720. There is a family
tradition that he was descended on his mother's or grand-
mother's side from the Barons of Nonant. He married,
February 17, 1701, Margaret de Valleau, daughter of Pierre
Joyeulx de Valleau, of the Island of Martinique, who died
soon after, leaving one child, a son called William, born
December 3, 1702^

William married Anne Besly, of New Rochelle, and had
two daughters, the younger of whom married, as above,
William Bayley. Mr. Bayley had two sons by this marriage :

* Hackney coaches were first brought into use, in London, in 1634 by a
Captain Bayley.

f There is reason to believe that he was married twice ; and that his first
wife was Grace, daughter of George Walrond, Esq., of the Island of Bar-
badoes, whose father, a distinguished Royalist commander in the Civil War
in England, had been created in 1653, by Philip IV., King of Spain, Mar-
quis de Vallado, etc. The title continues in the family, and is found among
other " Foreign Titles of Nobility" at the end of Burke's Peerage.

1 8 13] THE BATLETS. 277

Richard, born at Fairfield, Connecticut, about 1744,* and
William, born at New Rochelle, August 8, 1745.

Richard Bayley married twice: first, in 1767, Catharine,
daughter of Rev. Richard Charlton and Mary Bayeux, his
wife. Mrs. Richard Bayley died at Newtown, Long Island,
in May, 1777, leaving two daughters, the younger of whom,
Elizabeth-Ann, married William Seton. By his second mar-
riage, with Charlotte Barclay, June 16, 1778, daughter of
Andrew Barclav and Helen Roosevelt, he had a large family
of sons and daughters, of whom Guy-Carleton, born 1786,
married Grace Roosevelt, November 4, 18 13. Their eldest
son, and Mother Seton' s nephew by the half-blood, was the
late Archbishop Bayley.

The married life of the young couple was very happy, and
Elizabeth Seton more than justified the anticipations expressed
in a charming letter from old Mrs. Seton on their engagement
being announced. She endeared herself also to her father-in-
law, to whom she immediately became a cherished object of
hope and love. I can furnish no better proof of the con-
fidence and affection in which she was held than the following
letter :

" New York, Feb. 28th. 1796.

" My Dear Eliza, — I have found the book of my mother's which William
wished to send to you, and with it I found certain letters preserved by the
person to whom they were addressed, I trust from the fondest affection to
the person by whom they were written. I believe no one but she has ever
seen them, and as they lay open my whole soul at a moment of doubt,
affection, grief, and every passion that could shake the human mind, they
are only fit for the eye of an affectionate child, as ready to forgive the weak-
ness of the parent, as to approve of any congenial sentiment that the various
passions working upon a feeling heart may have created. You are the first
of my children to whom I have submitted the perusal of them, and I request
you will return them to me unsullied by the eye of impertinent curiosity.
Let no one look at them. The parental affection I ever felt for my dear
William, your husband, you will find strongly marked in every letter. This

*" The church records and registers were burnt during the Revolution,
hence the uncertainty of the date.

278

AN OLD FAMILY.

[A.D. I794

will give you pleasure ; but when I add that this affection has increased
ever since, I think every page where I mention him will be doubly dear to
you. That you may long, very long enjoy every blessing together, is the
sincere prayer of your affectionate and fond father,

" Wm. Seton."

The young people lived at first with their father at No. 65
Stone Street, having for their immediate neighbors John

Wilkes, Cadwallader
Colden, and Dr. Sam-
uel Provoost, first
Bishop of the Protest-
ant Episcopal Church
in New York. In
a letter of William
Seton to his wife,
written from Philadel-
phia in July, 1794,
he says : "I showed
my friends your por-
trait, and many agree-
able things were said,
for which I felt greatly
flattered, but let them
know that the artist,
although a French-
man, had not at all
flattered you." The
miniature is encircled by a rim of solid gold, and behind,
under a thick crystal, is a circlet of gold, within which, rest-
ing on a blue and gold enamel background, is a lock of her
husband's hair held together by a small clasp of pearls. In
the larger circle around this is a delicate braid of her own hair.
Not the painting alone, but the setting, is a perfect specimen
of French good taste, which the accompanying illustration
does not reproduce.

rffvw fa** £^r-Jf££pfr.

1794.

a.d. I796] ANNA-MARIA SETON. 281

In the fall of this year Mr. Seton and his wife moved into
their own house, No. 8 State Street, near the Battery, in
what was then the most airy, healthful, and pleasant part of
the citv, also one of the most fashionable quarters. William
Seton was the handsomest man in New York, and one of the
few who was well connected in Great Britain and possessed
the advantages of foreign travel. The portrait which we have
of him, and which is here reproduced, is said to have been
painted by Malbone ; and he certainly was a rare subject for
such an artist.

On the 3d of May, 1795, their first child, Anna-Maria,
was born. Writing in 1796 to a friend at Paris, Mrs. Seton
says of this child (who lived to become one of the pioneers
and early heroines of Saint Joseph's at Emmittsburg) :

" Respecting a certain pair of eyes, they are much nearer black than any
other color, which with a very small nose and mouth, dimpled cheeks and
chin, rosy face and never-ceasing animation form an object rather too inter-
esting for my pen. Her grandfather Bayley will tell you that he sees more
sense, intelligence, and inquiry in that little face than any other in the
world ; that he can converse more with her than with any woman in New
York. In short, she is her mother's own daughter, and you may be sure
her father's pride. So some little beings are born to be treasured, while
others are treated with less attention by those who give them birth than they
receive from hirelings. But often those who want the fostering, indulgent
bosom of a parent to rest on, get cheerfully through the world, whilst the
child of hope will have its prospects darkened by unthought-of disappoint-
ments. But there is a Providence which never sleeps."

Again, in 1797, she writes: " Anna-Maria is close beside
me, and I will cut for you a lock of the beautiful hair that
curls in a hundred ringlets on her head. She is one of the
loveliest beings ever beheld." Mr. and Mrs. Seton visited
Philadelphia in the month of May, 1796; and while Mrs.
Seton, fatigued with the journey across New Jersey, remained
with her friend Mrs. Julia Scott, nee Sitgreaves, her husband
and a sister went to visit the Vinings at their country seat,
{' The Oakes," near Dover, the Capital of Delaware.

282 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

(William Seton to his wife.)

" Oakes," near Dover, 15th May, 1796.

" It is very strange that people who have lived all their lives in a city
should not know the way out. From the directions Mrs. S. gave us we
went at least one mile and a half out of our way, and did not get to Chester
until nine o'clock. The morning was remarkably fine, and nothing but my
dear wife was wanting to make the ride one of the most delightful imagi-
nable. We dined with old Mrs. Vining, at Wilmington (she would have
accompanied us here had she received Mr. W.'s letter), and slept at night at
the Red Lyon, which is upwards of forty miles from the capital. The enter-
tainment was excellent, and we left at six o'clock in the morning precisely,
and arrived here at five yesterday afternoon. Maria and her husband were
just setting off to meet us, and most exceedingly glad to see us, but much
disappointed at finding you were not with us ; in fact they expected not only
you but our darling Anna, and had prepared to receive us all. Their house
is a most charming one, surrounded by beautiful and extensive woods, a
garden that abounds with every fruit and flower, the situation quite retired
and everything about it comfortable. Each moment that passes makes me
regret more and more you are not with us. They are very pressing for me
to stay, but I am still determined to start on Tuesday, and I hope you will be
prepared to leave for New York on Saturday. Our horses go charmingly,
and, if the road is good, I think we shall get back easily in two days and a
half. Persuade Mrs. S. to wait for us, if you can, and do not omit to write
to my father by the post."

New York at this time was a city of less than fifty thou-
sand inhabitants, but there was good society and much gayety
there. I reproduce a little article which appeared from my
pen a few years ago, and will only add that the Assembly
Balls of which I wrote were what the Patriarchs' Balls
became at a much later date, only they were far more select.

"OUR GREAT-GRANDFATHERS' BALLS.

" WHIGS AND TORIES — HOW THEY DANCED TOGETHER.

" Mandeville Mower's interesting but comparatively modern Reminis-
cences of ' The Balls of Old,' in last week's /Lome Journal, show how
present New York society has moved in untraditional directions. Verily, in
the words of Horace, writing on the 'Art of Toetry' :

" 'As forests change their foliage year by year,
Leaves, that come first, first fall and disappear ;
So antique names die out, and in their room
Others spring up, of vigorous growth and bloom.'

274 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1780

he was only ten, and spent several years at a private school in
Richmond, near London, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Rose.
His vacations were kept with his relatives, and mostly with
the Berrys. His beauty and sweetness of disposition, but
without much application to his books, were often mentioned
in letters to his father. The earliest letter of the boy which
I find among our papers is one written to old Mrs. Seton,
without year, but which I judge was about 1780. Eton Street
should be Eaton Street. The Mr. Mann mentioned is proba-
bly James Mann, Esq., who married the eldest daughter of
his cousin, Sir Horace Mann, M.P., a friend of the Berrys.
Although the spelling of some words is poor, the writing is
fair, and the composition of unaffected simplicity.

" Pimlico, Eton Street, December the 21.
" Dear Grandma :

" I got to my Uncle's very well, he says he is very glad you sent me so
soon, as I can spend two or three days with him, as I can't go to my Aunt
Whittle till after Christmas day, for her two sons are both come from school,
& there will be no room for me, till my Cousin Richard goes to Ipswich,
where he goes a day or two after Christmas. I shall go to see my Aunt
Whittle tomorrow if it is a fine day.

" Mr. Mann was so good as to take me to see the House of Lords where
I saw the King sitting upon the Throne with a crown upon his head, & I
saw all the Lords dressed in their Robes & heard the bill read over to the
King & answered by another man in French, but I only heard the last that
was, Le Koi dit ; the King consents. I stood close to the King upon the
lower step of the Throne, & I saw that famous man lord North ; but I think
of all the lords I ever saw he was shabiest, he had on a nasty old brown coat
& a blue ribbon & all the other lords was dressed in fine robes. & there were
the Bishops & the Bishop of Glouster read Prayers a little before the King
came in, which at first made me think it was a church but they told me it
was the custom to read Prayers always before they went to business. I think
the best looking lord that was there was lord Boston, he was quite a young
man & a very good looking man ; & as soon as the King went into the rob-
ing room I went and followed him where I saw him take off his Crown. I
went close to the crown which was a very handsome one. From there,
I went St. James' Park, where I saw the King again in the state coach with
eight Horses which was a very noble sight. I forgot to tell you there was
four Ladies in the House of Lords. The duke of Cumberland was there
& the Prince of Wales was not.

1768] WILLIAM SETON (2). 273

I can promise that they shall not remain unanswered ; I am always happy to
be his scribe, and should be particularly so in this case. Our father received
a letter a week or two before his death from Lady Synnot, announcing- the
death of Mrs. George Seton, which was a very great shock to him, as like-
wise that of our grandmother : for though he could not again expect to
see her, her letters and the certainty of her fond affection were his greatest
pleasures. And in short he had no other gratifications than the happiness
and welfare of all his numerous friends and relatives ; and although we who
were in the constant enjoyment of his affections have reason most to feel
his loss, there are many who sincerely participate our sorrow who only knew
him for his virtues, and to you, my dear aunt, who so well knew and
esteemed them I can not help again lamenting that the sad tidings should
come from my pen. My William desires his affectionate regards to your self
and Lady Synnot and Sir Walter, and the rest of the family, in which I beg
leave sincerely to join, and remain

" Yours most truly,

" E. A. Seton."
"To Dowager Lady Cayley, at Sir Walter Synnot' s, Dublin, or {Bally-
moyer), Newry, Ireland."

IV. William Seton, Esq^, of New York, Represent-
ative of Parbroath. William Seton, eldest son of William
Seton and Rebecca Curzon, was born at sea on board the
ship Edward, on 20th April, 1768, as his parents were re-
turning to America from a visit to England made shortly after
their marriage. One of his sponsors at baptism in the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church, on the 8th of May following, was
William Magee, of London, whose proxy was John Alsop
of New York. During his father's lifetime he was always
known as William Magee Seton, or oftener as William M.
Seton. I know nothing about Mr. Magee, except that he
was married, had no children, was rich, and was not related
to the Setons. On his death he left his godson a legacy of
^1,000, and one of ,£1,500 to his father. I suspect that he
owed a debt of some kind to old Mr. John Seton, who was at
one time, as we have seen, in business in London, and, like
all the family, was generous and open-handed, almost fool-
ishly so.

Young William was sent to England for his education when
18

272 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

life regretting a friend and social companion, the poor mourning a father
and benefactor, always their resource in misfortune and assistant in every
difficulty ; and by us his children, who were accustomed constantly to receive
his dearest affection and to look up to him as the soul of our existence, his
loss will be forever severely felt and deplored. My dear William, who was
his favorite and beloved child, his partner in business, and the one in whom
he placed every confidence and trust, feels himself at once the provider and
head of a numerous family. Rebecca is the eldest daughter unmarried, and
there are six younger than herself ; but our beloved father brought up his
family in such harmony and affection, and they have such good and amiable
dispositions, that if William can but make them some comfortable mainte-
nance, we shall yet have hopes of domestic enjoyment when the family gets
in some degree settled ; but in these hours of sorrow I have not only my poor
husband's spirits to support, but also to sustain myself : expecting every day
the birth of another little dependent in addition to our son and daughter.
How my William has gone through such severe trials and anguish of heart
as our heavy loss has caused him, being the one particularly upon whom the
weight of the blow has fallen, is only to be accounted for by referring every-
thing to Him who gives us power to support those evils which every human
being must endure his portion of.

"As yet his health has not suffered much, but his mind is in a state
scarcely to be endured ; for besides our family sorrow, the situation of our
affairs with the French and the constant preparation for war makes every
one uncertain how long they may be permitted to enjoy their homes, or what
their future prospects may be. Our dear father unfortunately did not leave
a will, which places my husband in a difficult and uncomfortable situation
with respect to his property, which, though not very great, may with Wil-
liam's industry and unremitting care prove sufficient to maintain and educate
a numerous family, if he can but collect and arrange it. But in these
melancholy times everything is scattered and uncertain, and all we can do is
to keep united, and contribute as much as we can to each other's happiness,
of which, Heaven knows, we expect but little and have, until time which
softens all things shall reconcile or rather accustom us to a change which is
now the loss of all we valued most. My William's unremitting labor in the
arrangement of the business of the House, which is very extensive, and the
distressing confusion and perplexity of his mind at this moment, prevents
his having the power to write to you himself, though he very much wishes
it, but the constant expression of his affection and grateful remembrance of
your goodness to him, when he was with you, have so familiarized me with
the idea of your family, that I hope it will be a sufficient excuse for the
manner in which I have ventured to write ; and he anxiously wishes that
you will from time to time have the goodness to let him hear from you, as
everything which interests you will be interesting to us and to him par-
ticularly, who knows and remembers every branch of your family so well.
When circumstances of hurry or necessity prevent his answering your letters,

1768] WILLIAM SETON (2). 273

I can promise that they shall not remain unanswered ; I am always happy to
be his scribe, and should be particularly so in this case. Our father received
a letter a week or two before his death from Lady Synnot, announcing the
death of Mrs. George Seton, which was a very great shock to him, as like-
wise that of our grandmother : for though he could not again expect to
see her, her letters and the certainty of her fond affection were his greatest
pleasures. And in short he had no other gratifications than the happiness
and welfare of all his numerous friends and relatives ; and although we who
were in the constant enjoyment of his affections have reason most to feel
his loss, there are many who sincerely participate our sorrow who only knew
him for his virtues, and to you, my dear aunt, who so well knew and
esteemed them I can not help again lamenting that the sad tidings should
come from my pen. My William desires his affectionate regards to your self
and Lady Synnot and Sir Walter, and the rest of the family, in which I beg
leave sincerely to join, and remain

" Yours most truly,

" E. A. Seton."
" To Dowager Lady Cayley, at Sir Walter Synnot 's, Dublin, or {Bally-
moyer), JVewry, Ireland.''

Young William was sent to England for his education when

* v -

■'..

- 1 < •

1 " /

ri^inal by Lady Synnot, now at Ballymoyer House.)

a.d. 1 7 19] THE CATLETS. 243

filled several government offices in New York at the period of
the Revolution, came from Scotland in 1746, recommended
to our John Seton, in whose hands was placed a sum of
^"700, which was the young man's capital to begin business
on in America.

John Seton married his cousin, Elizabeth Seton, who was
(as she says in a letter) " born on the familv estate of Belsies,
on the 17th of February 17 19." She was daughter of
James, son of John Seton, who held the office of Town Clerk
of Burntisland in the earlv years of the eighteenth century.
James Seton acquired the property of Belshes or Belsislands,
in the County of Haddington, between 17 15 and 1721. His
son was James Seton of Hillside, Edinburgh, who sold the
estate. His sister received, as her share, the sum of ,£1,600,
and had besides a small annuity settled upon her. He was
for many years a Director of the Bank of Scotland. He
and his affairs and his children are often mentioned in
our old family letters. Elizabeth Seton died in 1797, and
is buried in the Cayley vault at Brompton in Yorkshire,
England. John and Elizabeth Seton had two sons and five
daughters :

1. John, the eldest, emigrated to the British West Indies,
and, dying unmarried, was buried " within the parish of St.
James' (Barbado.es) on December 22nd, 1768."

2. William, of whom hereafter.

3. Isabella Seton, married, in 1763, Thomas, afterward Sir
Thomas Cayley, a Yorkshire baronet, whose ancient family
came from Normandy with the Conqueror, and is mentioned
in Domesday Book as tenant-in-chief of several manors in
Berkshire. The baronetcy was created in 1661, but there
was a barony in the family as earlv as the beginning of the
fourteenth century, which expired when Thomas Lord Cayley
of Buckenham died, s. />., about 1315, leaving an only sister
and heiress, Margerie Cayley or de Cailli, who married Roger

244 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1S2S

de Clifton, and carried her great estates into that house, from
which thev passed to the ancient family of Knyvet, now
represented in the Peerage by Baroness Berners. The only
son of Sir Thomas and Lady Cayley was George, the sixth
baronet. He sat in Parliament for Scarborough, and his por-
trait, as also that of his son-in-law and cousin, Edward Stil-
lingfleet Cayley, of Wydale House, who represented the North
Riding of Yorkshire, is in the large historical painting bv Sir
George Hayter, in the National Portrait Gallery, at London,
showing the interior of the old House of Commons during the
moving of the Address to the Crown, February 5, 1833. I
remember, as a boy, meeting Sir George Cayley and his
daughter Isabella, wife of Sir Thomas Style, Bart. ; also
Edward Stillingfleet Cayley, M.P., who was a tall and
stately gentleman.* Sir George was a singularly gifted
man; a lover of literature and the fine arts. He died in

1857.

Of the children of Sir Thomas and Lady Cayley, the one
most frequently mentioned in our old letters from England
is " sweet Anne," their youngest child, who married at
fifteen the Rev. George Worsley, and was mother of Sir
William Worsley, Baronet, of Hovingham Hall, County
York, of a family that goes back to the Conquest. Lady
Cayley died in 1828. She was godmother to my dear and
valued friend, kinsman, and correspondent, the late Edward
Stillingfleet Cayley, Esq., of Wydale and Low Hall, County
York, J. P. and D.L. Her great-great-grandson is the

* He took me one afternoon to see Parliament sitting. In the House of
Commons I heard Palmerston, Disraeli, and Bulwer-Lytton speak ; and in
the Lords, Brougham and Derby and other orators and debaters. While
here, a fine old gentleman — the Duke of Grafton — came up to our little
corner and spoke to Mr. Cayley. I was introduced, and was immediately
asked about the crops in America, and then he talked of corn and turnips
and then of mangel-wurzel — things that didn't interest me at all, particularly
in a place so novel and magnificent.

A.D. 1889]

THE STNNOTS.

249

present Baronet, Sir George E. A. Cayley of High Hall, who
married a niece of the Earl of Wharncliffe. One of Lady
Cayley's brothers is married to a daughter of Admiral Schley,
U.S.N.

4. Jane Seton, married, in 1770, Sir Walter Synnot, Kt.,
of Ballymoyer House, County Armagh. This family pos-
sessed large estates and ranked among the most eminent of
the gentry in Ireland,

■

until dispossessed of
all their lands by
Oliver Cromwell.
Colonel David Syn-
not, ancestor of Sir
Walter, was Gover-
nor of Wexford in
1649, during the
memorable siege.
Seven brothers of this
family sat at one and
the same time in the
Irish Parliament. Sir
Walter Synnot was a
distinguished and
popular man in his
day. He was High
Sheriff of Armagh
and Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment reserved for himself
by Lord Charlemont, Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer
Army in Ireland in 1779. Lady Synnot died at Ballymoyer.
In the little Episcopal church erected on the estate in 1821
there is a pretty window inscribed : u To the glory of God and
in Memory of Jane Seton, wife of Sir Walter Synnot. Died
June 3rd, 1803, Aged 58." I visited beautiful Ballymoyer
in 1889, and was most cordially entertained by their grand-

er ARY BERRY, I79O.

250 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1763

son, Mark Seton Synnot, Esq., J. P. and D.L. for County
Armagh.

5. Elizabeth Seton, married Robert Berry, Esq., a nephew
of Ferguson of Raith, and a distant kinsman of her own.
He belonged to an old family formerly seated at Wester Bogie,
in Fife. There was a baronetcy in the family conferred upon
Sir Edward Berry, K.C.B., Rear-Admiral of the White, but
extinct in 183 1. Robert Berry was brought up with great
expectations as the heir-at-law of his wealthy and childless
uncle; but having no son by his marriage, and refusing to
marry again, he was supplanted bv his younger brother, Wil-
liam, who changed his name, and succeeded in 1780 to a
large cash fortune and a fine estate called Raith, in Fifeshire.
The only children of this marriage were those two distin-
guished ladies, Mary and Agnes Berry, so long the ornaments
of London society, and the friends and correspondents of the
celebrated Horace Walpole, afterward Earl of Orford. They
were born at Kirkbridge, in Yorkshire, a lone but picturesque
old ivy-grown house.* Their mother died in 1767. Writing
long afterward of her death, Miss Berry remarks :

" Of my mother I have only the idea of having- seen a tall, thin young-
woman in a pea-green gown, seated in a chair, seeming unwell, from whom
I was sent away to play elsewhere. Of the excessive grief of my father and
grandmother at her death I have no recollection ; I think I must have been
kept away from them. Of my own irreparable loss I had certainly then no
idea, and never acquired a just one till some years after, when my father
told us that my mother, on hearing some one say to her that I was a fine
child, and that they hoped I should be handsome, said, that all she prayed
to Heaven for her child was, that it might receive a vigorous understanding.
This prayer of a mother of eighteen, for her first born, a daughter, struck
me when I first heard it, and has impressed on my mind ever since all I
must have lost in such a parent.

" From her death, however, dates the first feeling of unkindness and
neglect which entered into my young mind, accustomed to nothing but the
fondness of everybody about me. The first wife of that Lord Percy who

* It was the residence of Mrs. John Seton, with whom Robert Berry and
wife lived during the first two years of their marriage.

a.d. 1852] THE BERRT SISTERS. 253

lived at Stanwick had become, from her near neighbourhood to Kirkbridge,
very intimate and very much attached to my mother. Lady Percy was in
London at the time of my mother's death, but, on her return to the North,
had stopped in York to see and to weep with my grandmother, who from
my mother's death had taken care of her two children.

" I have even now the clear and distinct idea of a lady in riding habit,
sitting leaning on a chair drowned in tears, and on my running up to her
and calling her by her name, pushing me away from her, and avoiding
looking at me, instead of taking me on her lap as I expected.

"The feelings of sorrow, of surprise, and mortification were the very
first of that long serious of wounds to a very affectionate heart, which
everybody has to undergo in life, and which nothing subsequent has blotted
from my memory."

The Berry sisters grew up with advantages of education,

travel, and social intercourse which developed literary and

artistic abilities of no mean order. Madame de Stael, says

Lord Houghton, thought Mary " by far the cleverest woman

in England." She merits the eulogium passed upon her by

Lady Theresa Lewis, in the Introduction to the ^Journal and

Correspondence of Miss Berry which she edited in 1865 :

" Miss Berry has more than ordinary claims to live in the memory of
those to whom she was personally known. For an unusually lengthened
period of years she formed a centre round which beauty, rank, wealth,
power, fashion, learning, and science were gathered ; merit and distinction
of every degree were blended by her hospitality in social ease and familiar
intercourse, encouraged by her kindness, and enlivened by her presence."

In 1844 Miss Berry published an edition of her writings in
two handsome volumes.

Neither of the sisters married, although each had good
and even brilliant offers. They figure among the members
of English society satirized by Disraeli in Vivian Grey, as the
Miss Otrantos. Their town residence, which now bears a
memorial tablet to them, was No. 8 Curzon Street. Wilmot
Harrison has an account of it and an engraving in his Mem-
orable London Houses. The loving sisters died there at very
advanced ages in 1852, sole survivors of two generations which
had passed away. They lie buried amid shrubbery and flowers
in the pleasant little graveyard of Petersham, " close to the

254 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1760

scenes which they had inspired with so many happy associa-
tions," says Lord Houghton, better known as Richard Monck-
ton Milnes, in Monographs, Personal and Social. The inscrip-
tion on their tomb is from the graceful pen of that Earl of
Carlisle who, as Lord Morpeth, travelled in the United States
many years ago, and left a sympathetic impression of himself
on the New York society of the day. The goodness, beauty,
and affectionate disposition of the Berry girls — her grand-
children— is often mentioned by old Mrs. Seton in letters to
her son in New York.

6. Margaret Seton, married, in 1760, Andrew Seton, Esq.,
of whom hereafter.

7. Barbara Seton, married George Seton, Esq., of the East
India Company's Service, who belonged to the Abercorn
branch, and was a younger brother of Captain Sir Henry
Seton, Bart., who served in America. Mrs. George Seton,
when a widow, was in receipt of a small pension from the
Company or the Government. They had an only child called
Barbara, the " Bab' of our old family letters. Like her
mother and all the rest of the Setons, she was tall and favored
with natural talent, which was improved by education and
intercourse with her cousins, the Berry sisters, who were early
introduced into the best society by the Duchess of Northum-
berland, who had been a strong friend of their mother. A
drama called the Siege of Benvick was written in the last
century by Edward Jerningham, of which Horace Walpole,
writing to Mary Berry fiom Strawberry Hill on Tuesday,
November 14, 1793, says:

" George Cambridge was last night at the first representation of Jerning-
ham's new play, and I was delighted to hear that it was received with great
applause and complete success, being very interesting. The Baviad has been
useful to it, for there is no love in it. Mr. Cambridge desired me to tell
you that there was one deficiency in it, i.e., yr cousin Miss Seton should
have played in it, for a Governor Seton, and his wife and two sons, are the
principal personages."

1746] WILLIAM SETON IN ENGLAND. 255

Barbara — "Bab" — Seton married Mr. Bannister, a poor
man, but of good family and well educated. They were last
heard of as living at Honiton, in Devon, in 1838.

John Seton was alive in 1748, for he then wrote from
London to Lord Minto— an honorary title as Lord Justice
Clerk — about the business affairs of his son Andrew Elliot,
who was settled at Philadelphia. He died before 1760.

III. William Seton, Esq^, Representative of Parbroath.
He was born in Scotland while his mother was on a visit to
her family, on April 24, 1746, but passed his first years at
Kirkbridge, in Yorkshire, England. He had received a good
education, which was improved by travel and a knowledge of
French and Spanish ; for he went as a boy, probably with some
older relative, to San Lucar in Spain. His brother-in-law,
Andrew Seton, was already settled in New York, and by his
persuasion William went there himself in 1763 and remained.
At sixteen, with all the thrift and energy of the Scotch race,
he was superintendent and part owner of iron works in New
Jersey, and of property in the interior of the province of New
York, designated in a family letter of 1766 the Mohawk
Lands.

There was the strongest bond of affection between Mrs.
John Seton and her son William. When his affairs got settled
after the Revolution, and he had a comfortable fortune, he
often begged his mother to cross the ocean and come live
with him; but the fear of the sea in a long, and perhaps
dangerous voyage, and the many ties that bound her to Eng-
land kept her there. In one of her letters she speaks of the
dutiful affection of her children and grandchildren, who all
strove to have her make her home with them.

The most interesting among our family papers is a series
— unfortunately a broken one — of long and well-written
letters from Mrs. Seton to her son in New York. Few of

256 AN OLD FAMILY. [A.D.

them, comparatively, have come down to us — one hundred
and twelve in all, although the correspondence was, as she
says, " most assiduous from his first going out into the
world." The letters are numbered only from 1784 to 1797,
between which dates sixty are missing.

Many other members of the family in England wrote at
different times to Mr. Seton, but hardly a dozen of their
letters are left. During the Revolutionary War the coast of
North America was infested by privateers, and many English
packet-ships were captured. A number, too, were lost in
other ways. After my great-grandfather's death, and the
subsequent disarrangement of his son's affairs, innumerable
letters and documents were lost or destroyed. I learn from a
chance expression in a letter of my grandfather, William Seton,
that he lost a trunk containing valuable letters and papers while
travelling in Italy in 1788; and I have often heard my father
lament the destruction in the great fire of New York (in 1835)
of several cases of letters, papers, pictures, and heirlooms
which were stored in a house down town that was entirely
consumed. No inventory exists of the things that were lost.
Only it is known, from Mrs. Seton' s letters to her son in New
York, that she sent him at different times an old silver tea set
with the family crest on it; portraits of herself and husband,
described as good likenesses, but in u old-fashioned frames
which are very ugly " ; a number of miniatures — " all my little
miniatures"; a memorandum book containing scraps of her
poetry and notes of her early and her married life — " my
memorandum book may amuse you in your leisure hours,
with melancholy reflections on the past, as they often take
full possession of my thoughts and convince me that there is
no permanent happiness in this world"; many drawings by
Lady Synnot, portraits and fancv sketches; and, finally, "a
large family Bible," which Mrs. Seton wrote she valued most.
Apart from purely domestic matters contained in these letters,

1 784-1 797] WILLIAM SETON IN AMERICA. 257

there are numerous passages which show the writer to have
been a woman of very good education, and a lover of Nature
in all its aspects. There are also many homely remarks in the
way of advice, encouragement, or dissent, as when she sends
her son seven pounds of Scotch snuff, but says: " I have heard,
my dear William, that you take too much snuff. For God's
sake take as little as possible, for nothing hurts the health so
much and generally makes one look quite stupified. You
cannot remember it, but taking too much snuff was the first
thing that hurt your dear father, and that makes me the more
anxious that you should avoid it " ; or, after chiding him for
being too lenient with certain friends who had borrowed
money from him and never paid it back : ' ' We must guard
against the designing part of the world, who so often deceive
the innocent and unwary." Writing in August, 1786, to
her son about giving his boys a good education and putting
them to business, she says that " otherwise they will be
brought up to their ruin, for poor Gentrv is, in my opinion,
the most melancholy situation in life." But that money was
no Ideal of hers is shown in another letter, in which she
says: "May you long live to enjoy every happiness and
blessing that this world can give, and may I ever be thankful
for being the mother of such a worthy son, whose virtues and
integrity give me more heartfelt pleasure than if you were
posses 't of millions zvithout that honesty and upright heart *
that vou are blessed with." In 1783 Mrs. Seton visited the
Synnots at their seat of Ballvmoyer in Ireland, and in a letter
to her son, dated September 25th, she says that she waited to
write to him —

"till I could tell you of my safe arrival last Saturday, after a dangerous
passage of fifty hours from Park Gate, where I was weather-bound for three
weeks, nothing but storms and contrary wind ; but as we have always good
with evil, I was happy with my companions — a Miss Clark whom I knew

* Original underlined.
17

258 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

in London and a Capt. Russell of the Navy, a very polite, agreeable,
pleasant man who studied everything to make us happy ; and after three
days at Park Gate, the King's yacht arrived, commanded by Sir Alexander
Schomberg, an old acquaintance of mine, who was a very great acquisition
to our party ; and if it had not been that I could not hear from any of my
friends, I should have spent my time well enough for both our captains
were polite, cheerful men, and Sir Alexander insisted upon our going his
passengers, which we were very glad to accept of, as we had good accom-
modation and every attention paid us that was possible. But although I
had the Lord Lieutenant's state-room, yet I found in it no charm to keep
me from a head-ache, nor from being violently sick, which I was the whole
time and never out of bed, nor could not taste anything, but really thought
I should have died. Thank God, I am now quite well, and hope I shall be
the better of my sea-sickness. I am happy with my dear Jenny, who met me
at his brother's half way to Ballymoyer, from which place although I have
dated my letter, I have not yet reached, nor don't leave this till Sir Walter
comes for us whom we expect the end of this week, for at present he is
attending the Assizes, as you know he is High Sheriff of the county, and
is much esteemed and beloved by all who know him. When I get to their
house I shall be quite happy, for they have everything comfortable on their
own estate, and are much beloved in the county and are blessed with the
finest children you ever saw. I shall remain with them till Mr. Berry's
return to England, and then they have promised to come and fetch me ;
but I scarce think that I shall ever have courage to cross the seas again.
I travelled to Park Gate in Sir Walter Synnot's chariot, which I was bring-
ing over to him, so that I travelled quite easy, and Captain Russell that was
my companion had been sometime upon the American station, and lately
commanded the Hussar* frigate so that probably you know him. He is
a very polite, agreeable man."

Writing from Ballymoyer on May 20, 1784, to her son,
Mrs. Seton says: " Summer is come upon us all at once, and
this is now the most delightful weather that ever was, and
has made this place beautiful beyond description, and I enjoy
it much ; for when it is not too hot I walk, and sit for hours
in the sweet Glen f by the purling brook, contemplating the
many vicissitudes of my life, and find that I have more reason

* This vessel was lost during the Revolutionary War, after leaving New
York, in attempting to pass Hell Gate and get to sea by the Sound.

f Mr. Mark Seton Synnot, now of Ballymoyer, sent me a beautiful
photograph of this shady spot, called the Fountain in the Glen, which was a
favorite retreat for Lady Synnot to retire to and read.

i784]

MARIA STNNOT.

259

FOUNTAIN IN THE GLEN AT BALLYMOYER, IRELAND.

to be thankful than most people, for I have had many bless-
ings and am favoured with the best of children. Few women
of sixty-five years can boast of pleasures — mine are exquisite.
In regard to my children and grandchildren, I am happy
beyond expression ; and hope thev will live to feel the same
delight in theirs that, thank God ! I have experienced in
mine."

Sir Walter's daughter Maria is often mentioned in Mrs.

260 AN OLD FAMILY. [A.p.

Seton's interesting letters, and praised for her loving disposi-
tion, her beauty, her knowledge of French and Latin, music,
drawing, painting, her graceful dancing, and other mental and
social qualities. She died at seventeen, a little before the date
fixed for her marriage with Colonel George Legard, the
younger son of a Yorkshire baronet of old family :

The fairest rose in shortest time decays. — Drummond.

Mary and Agnes Berry are constantly mentioned and always
praised for their good looks, kindness of heart, and varied
accomplishments. There is nothing in Mary Berry's Journal
or in her correspondence published by Lady Theresa Lewis,
about what to a young lady of fashion is one of the aspirations
of her life — a Court presentation. Mrs. Seton briefly tells
of it in a letter to her son, dated 29th February, 1792:

"We have been much alarmed on account of Sir Thomas (Cayley)
who has been very ill, and is now determined on a journey to Bristol as
soon as the weather will permit. It has been remarkably bad this winter,
by which the dear Berrys have suffered much from the change of climate,
for they came home to a very severe season, and have both been ill since.
Thank God, they are now better and, since I wrote to you, have been
presented at Court, as the circle they are in made it quite necessary. The
Duchess of Argyle wished to have the pleasure of presenting them years
ago, but Mr. Berry thought it would be attended with too great expense.
Lord Orford, and other friends have, at last, persuaded them. Their dress
was as plain as they possibly could make it, but it was very much admired.
You see what trifles I write about to fill up my paper and make you
acquainted with what is going on here."

William Seton became a member of the New York Cham-
ber of Commerce in 1768, the year of its foundation. In
1765 he had been elected an officer of the Saint Andrew's
Society of that city, and in 1786, the year of its foundation,
of the Saint George's Society. He was an importing mer-
chant of European and India goods, with his place of busi-
ness at what was then known as Cruger's Dock. The two
brothers, Charles and John Wilkes, came out to New York

1765-1775] WILLIAM SETON (1). 261

in 1780, with letters of introduction to Mr. Seton, and they
settled there permanently. Charles, writing to Miss Berry in
England, thanks her " for having introduced me to the most
agreeable house in New York " ; and Captain Ralph Dundas,
R.N., writes of him on March 2, 1782, that "he is liked
and esteemed by every one, and not spending less than six
guineas a day." He also owned property in Nova Scotia,
called in old letters the u Halifax estate," which has since
become very valuable, being estimated at ,£600,000, and is
occupied by Government buildings.
It passed out of his hands by the
mismanagement and fraud of his
agent there during and after the P| I

Revolution. Some attempts were
subsequently made to regain posses-
sion of this property, but I have heard
that the English authorities condemned
Mr. Seton for remaining in New York,
and not leaving with the Refugees on
the evacuation of the city. At the be-

; MARIA SYNNOT, 1 796.

ginning of the Revolutionary troubles

he was a member of the Committee of One Hundred elected
May 1, 1775, to control the affairs of the city and county of
New York. He was strongly attached by education, friend-
ships, and family connection to the cause of the Mother
Country in her dispute with the Colonies, but he never made
himself odious by a fanatical loyalty. Although he lost some
outlying property, he was not further molested when the
American troops entered the city. He then became a citizen
of the Republic, and the esteem in which he was held in
the community, notwithstanding his previous record, was
observed by a traveller of some distinction who visited New
York in 1788, J. P. Brissot de Warville, in his Nouveau
Voyage dans les Etats- Unis. He was a man of very generous

262

AN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d.

feelings, and it is for services rendered at considerable risk to
himself that the French political economist and traveller, Saint
Jean de Crevecoeur, addressed to him the Lettres d'un Cultl-
vateur Am'ericain (1770— 1781).* His business was ruined
during the Revolution, and in 1779 he became a Notary
Public — the last one under the royal government — and his
silver notarial seal, engraved with the Seton arms, is preserved
among our heirlooms. He was a friend of the unfortunate
Major Andre, whose will he witnessed, and a particular friend

and distant relative of the Hon.
Andrew Elliot, Superintendent
of the Port and godfather to
two of Mr. Seton 's sons.
They both died in infancy.
When Mr. Elliot returned to
England, after the British evac-
uation of New York, he wrote
a beautiful letter to Mrs. Seton
about her son, whom he so loved
and admired. During the Revo-
lution armed packets ran be-
tween Falmouth and New York; but as early as 1783, as
soon as the war was over, a line of packet-ships, five in
number, was established to make monthly trips to the port
of L' Orient in France. The Consul-General of France
at New York had the direction of the enterprise, but the
immediate supervision was intrusted to Mr. Seton, who was a
travelled man and understood French. He was also one of
the founders and the first Cashier of the Bank of New York
in 1784, and would undoubtedly, but for political reasons,

WILLIAM SETON S NOTARIAL

SEAL.

* Crevecoeur's Life was published by his great-grandson a 'few years
ago ; and in a copy presented to my brother, the author wrote : Je suis
tres heureux d'offrir ce livre a Jlf. William Seton, descendant de r ami de-
voue de man bisaieuL

1784] WILLIAM SETON (1). 263

have been the first President. He founded about the same
time the "great house of Seton, Maitland & Co." (at 61
Stone Street), and I gather from old letters and papers that
the business of the firm extended to London, Hamburg, Leg-
horn, Barcelona, Malaga, and the West Indies — Saint Eusta-
tius, Saint Croix, Martinique. After the Revolution, Mr.
Seton' s affairs began once more to prosper. He was very
hospitable and entertained many distinguished people at his
house in Hanover Square. Henry Dommett has this to say
of him in his History of the Bank of New York, J 784—1 884:

" He was especially fitted for the office of cashier of the bank by his
sterling- business qualifications, his diligent, precise, and methodical habits,
and by an amiability and courtesy which made him very popular. His
appointment as an officer of the bank, with General McDougal, the early
leader of the 'Sons of Liberty,' and a distinguished officer of the Revolu-
tion, shows the esteem in which Mr. Seton was held by the liberal party at
the close of the war."

My great-uncle, Samuel Seton, who died in 1869 at the
age of eighty, retaining a tenacious memory to the last, wrote
a long letter the year before his death, in which he told me
many of his early recollections. Coming to the French exiles,
he says of Talleyrand: " I remember him well, although I
was but a child of five or six years. He was very intimate
at our house, and we often of summer evenings sat out, at the
door, on the stone steps, he taking me on his knees. A little
French colored boy used to come with pop-corn, and we very
often bought some, and while we eat it Talleyrand would
encourage him to dance on the street and sing revolutionary
songs. Talleyrand dressed in black, and wore knee-breeches
and black silk stockings. He was fond of me, and wanted
me later to be sent to him, in France, to be educated. One
of his feet was deformed, and he limped a little. Sometimes
when we sat there at earlv evening processions came past of
French citizens, with banners and a large tree with colored
apples, each with a motto attached, and they singing the

264 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

' Marseillaise. ' This is all I remember of the ex-Bishop of
Autun."

Mrs. John Seton died on August 2, 1797, in her seventy-
ninth year. I have read among the Seton papers at High
Hall, the seat of the Cayleys, a beautiful and touching letter
to Lady Cayley (Isabella Seton that was) from her brother,
William Seton, in New York, in answer to one announc-
ing the news of their mother's death. How united,
although separated by such distances — so much greater in
those days than in these — the family had always been, is
gathered from this passage of the letter : ' ' Yes, my dearest
Bell, I will continue to write to you, and to cherish the cor-
respondence as the last links of that fondly affectionate happi-
ness which our dear, departed parent enjoyed so much to
behold and to contribute to." In 1784 Mr. Seton acquired a
small country place at Bloomingdale, several miles from what
was then the city of New York, on the west side of the island
of Manhattan, about where Seventy-eighth Street is now. In
old letters it is sometimes called Graigdon and sometimes
Craggdon. His mother, writing to him about it in that year,
recalls an occupation of his boyhood at Kirkbridge in York-
shire. u I am delighted that you have a garden to your
house, as it will be the means of procuring you health, by
the pleasure you will take in cultivating your fruits and
flowers, in which you used to take great delight."

William Seton married, on the 2d of March, 1767,
Rebecca, eldest daughter of Richard Curzon, Esq., of New
York. Mr. Curzon belonged to a very ancient English
family, the Curzons of TVaterperry, Oxfordshire. He was
born in 1726, the only son of John, third son of Sir John
Curzon (second baronet), who is erroneously stated, in Burke's
Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, to have died unmarried.*

* This ancient family was seated at Kedleston as early as the reign of
Henry I. It is said to be of Breton origin, and descended from Geraline,

1747] THE AMERICAN CURZONS. 265

Curzon of Parham Park succeeded in right of his mother,
since Shirley's book was published, to the Barony of Zouche
of Haryngworth, created in 1308. Curzon of Kedleston,
now the head of the family, was created a Baronet in 164 1,
and Baron Scarsdale in 1761. The heir to the title was
raised to the Peerage in 1898, on being named Viceroy of
India. His wife is an American.

Richard Curzon came out to New York in 1747, recom-
mended to the Governor of the Province, and soon afterward
married Elizabeth-Rebecca Beker, who had money. Her
father was of a Dutch family, and lived near New York on a
large grazing-farm which he owned. Mr. Richard Curzon
had three daughters and two sons. Of the former, Rebecca
and Anna-Maria married, successively, William Seton ; Eliza-
beth married James Farquhar * of New York. Of the latter,
Samuel died unmarried, and Richard (2) married Elizabeth
Moale, of Baltimore, where he settled. Richard Curzon had
three children by this marriage, one son and two daughters :
Samuel, who died in Baltimore, of yellow fever, unmarried;
(I.) Elizabeth-Rebecca-Beker Curzon, who married Samuel
Hoffman, of Franklin Street, Baltimore, and had Samuel-Cur-
zon Hoffman, who married Eliza Lawrence Dallam, by whom
he had Richard-Curzon Hoffman and Henrietta McTier Hoff-
man ; Sophia-Latimer Hoffman, who married Louis MacLane,
of Delaware; Dora Hoffman, unmarried, was engaged to the

a great benefactor to the Abbey of Abingdon, in Berkshire, in which
county the Curzons held land soon after the Conquest. Younger branches :
Curzon, Earl Howe, 1S21 ; Curzon of Parham, Sussex. Extinct branches :
Curzon of Croxhall and Waterperry, Co. Oxford, and of Letheringset,
Norfolk. Arms — Argent, a bend sable, charged with three popinjays or,
collared gules, borne by Roger Curzon in the reign of Richard II. Sir
John Curzoun bore argent, a bend gules bezantee, in that of Edward II. —
Evelyn Philip Shirley : Noble and Gentle Men of England, i860.

-* My father's cousin, the late General Farquhar Barry, of the Artillery
Corps, U.S.A., a distinguished officer of the Civil War, was a grandson of
this marriage.

266

AN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d.

gallant General McPherson, U.S.A., who was killed before
Atlanta. (II-) Ellin-Moale Curzon, * married Samuel Poult-
nev, and had Walter-Curzon Poultney, of Saint Paul Street,
Baltimore, now living; Thomas Poultney, married and had
issue; Eugene Poultney, married and had issue.

The Baronetcy of Curzon of Waterperry was dormant for
two generations in the American branch. It is now extinct.

William Seton, Esq.,
of New York, is what
is technically called
the Heir of Line of
that once distinguished
family. Henry-John
Philip Roper-Curzon,
Lord Teynham, is the
Heir of Entail, his
great-grand fa the r,
Henry-Francis Roper,
fourteenth baron, hav-
ing assumed, by royal
john curzon seton, 1798. license, the additional

name and arms of
Curzon upon inheriting the estate of Waterperry, County
Oxford.

An interesting book of Travels in India and America One
Hundred Tears Ago, by Thomas Twining, was published in
London in 1893. The author was in Baltimore on May 5,
1796, and says: " Called upon Mr. Curzon. Singular par-
ticulars of his family"; and adds in a note: " My Journal
does not state these particulars, and I have entirely forgotten
them." I am sorry, but I have no doubt that they related to
his ri^ht to the baronetcv.

•■ Ellin is a family name derived through the Norths, of early distinction
in Baltimore.

1767] DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM SETON 267

By his first marriage William Seton had four sons and one
daughter:

William, of whom hereafter.

James, of whom hereafter.

John, married a lady named Wise, and lived at a place
called " Summerhill," near Alexandria, in Virginia. He
was a handsome man, but of a melancholy disposition, which
is reflected in his face. There is a portrait of him in the
aristocratic St. Memin collection. He left, at his death, a
widow and two daughters. The widow married a Mr.
Gorham of Boston. Of the two daughters I find no mention
after 1817. I have understood that they were defrauded of
their property.

Henry, a Lieutenant, U.S.N., died young and un-
married.

Anna Maria, u a great beauty in society one hundred years
ago, when New York was the seat of Congress, and gay with
the first administration of Washington." She married, at
eighteen (24th November, 1790), Hon. John Middleton
Vining, of Delaware, a Senator of the United States and a
very distinguished man. They had issue, two sons :

Benjamin, graduated from the West Point Military Acad-
emy in 18 1 8. Appointed third Lieutenant of Ordnance,
July 24, 18 1 8, and Second Lieutenant of the First Artillery,
June 1, 1 82 1. Died while on duty at Fort McHenry, Balti-
more, in 1822, unmarried.

William-Henry, a brilliant member of the Delaware Bar,
a traveller and poet. Died unmarried. He was the last of
his family.

Mr. Seton married, secondly, Anna Maria Curzon. This
marriage with a deceased wife's sister could not be performed
in New York, where the law of the Church of England was
in force, but took place u on the 29th day of November,

> of whom hereafter.

268 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1798

1776, at Brunswick, in New Jersey," before a Presbyterian
clergyman.

By this marriage he had :

Samuel, ^

Edward Augustus,

Charlotte,

Elizabeth,

Mary,

Rebecca,

Henrietta,

Cecilia,

In a memorandum made by William Seton on July 15,
1 79 1, he says of a family reunion, that they sat down, that
day, fifteen to dinner, ' ' and all, thank God, in perfect health,
and passed a day together that filled my heart with the sin-
cerest gratitude to that Omnipotent Being who has granted
me the blessing of having such a family, not one of which has
ever, to this day, given me the least uneasiness."

All his children were distinguished for their tallness and
good looks.

William Seton was a large and handsome man of dignified
presence and benevolent features, and extremely neat in his
personal attire. My great-uncle, Samuel Seton, has told me
how careful he was, in taking snufF, not to let any of it drop
on his shirt frills or vest. His familv have a good portrait
of him, painted shortly before his death by that eminent Ameri-
can artist, Gilbert Stuart. Mr. Seton died at what, for his
family, was an early age, on the 9th of June, 1798, and is
buried in Trinity Churchyard.

I find among our papers the following brief eulogy of my
great-grandfather, in a lady's handwriting, which looks as if
it were a copy of an Obituary Notice in the newspaper:

" Died at New York on the 9th of June 1798, William Seton Esqr. in
the 52c!. year of his age, a native of Great Britain & a resident of America

LETTER TO LADY CATLET. 271

for upwards of thirty years. From his earliest youth his time was occupied
by pursuits of commerce in which he soon acquired and invariably preserved
the fairest reputation — with the most persevering assiduity he combined the
most generous conduct. Never addicted to Vice of any kind nor to Pride
nor to Ostentation, his heart was replete with every Virtue, a real friend,
and a friend to mankind his whole life was marked uniformly by sincerity
of Heart, dignity of Manners, and Active Liberality of Mind. But alas he
is no more ! the destitute Orphan is deprived of its kindest Patron, the
helpless widow, and the unfortunate of their best friend — his afflicted
children of an indulgent & beloved Parent, and the Community of a citizen
who gained and never lost their confidence and approbation, their affection
& esteem, and one they will never cease to lament."

The following letter of his eldest son's wife to Lady Cayley,
in England, gives some account of his death and of the family
which I find nowhere else. Sir Digbv Cayley showed me
this letter and other u Seton Papers " at High Hall in 1861,
but I am indebted for a copy of it to Mr. Cayley of Wydale.

(Elizabeth Seton to Lady Cayley.)

"New York, 6th July, 1798.

" My Dear Aunt Cayley, — We received your letter, number two, written
to our dear father, the third of April last, and happy should I be were it in
my power to offer you the kind, affectionate consolations contained in it.
But, alas ! we have every thing to lament and deplore, without one source
of comfort but that submission to the Disposer of all events, which we
know is our duty to make, even when our heart is rent with anguish. And
how shall I rend yours, and what can I say to prepare your mind for the
sad and distressing intelligence that our beloved, our best of parents is no
more. You have heard of the melancholy accident he met with on the 25th
of January, by a fall at his door, since which he has never been free from
pain, and almost constantly confined to his room, except now and then
riding to his country-seat for exercise, of which, unfortunately, he had never
been in the habit of taking enough. His complaint increased rapidly with
the warm season, and he so entirely lost his spirits as to think himself in
danger some weeks before the event took place. He died on the gth of
June, after several hours of severe pain, but possessing his senses to the
last ; and with him we have lost every hope of fortune, prosperity, and com-
fort, and shall feel his loss irreparably.

" Perhaps there never was an instance of any person being so universally
loved and lamented.

" Nearly five hundred people attended him to the grave, chiefly dressed in
black, with every mark of unaffected sorrow. Those in the higher station of

272 AN OLD FAMILY. [A.D.

SHAKESPEARE'S "MACBETH." 22^

and Lady Macbeth was dowered with an inheritance of
revenge in keeping with the laws and customs of that rude
Northern people eight hundred and fifty years ago. The
learned Chalmers in his Caledonia completely vindicates Mac-
beth, and Burton says: " It is among the most curious of the
antagonisms that sometimes separate the popular opinion of
people of mark from anything positively known about them,
that this man, in a manner sacred to splendid infamy, is the
first whose name appears in the ecclesiastical records, both as
a King of Scotland and a benefactor of the Church." *

Macbeth made a pilgrimage to Rome, and was munificent
in his alms to the poor of that city.

Shakespeare's intention in the play was to flatter King
James I., supposed to be descended from Banquo, who in
that uncritical age was called ancestor of the Royal House of
Stuart ; but being an Englishman of the day, he hated Scotch-
men, and while openly flattering the king, was quite capable
of covertly insulting his minister. We have seen how Sir
Henry Yelverton behaved. Alexander Seton, Earl of Dun-
fermline, practically governed Scotland at that time, and was
the most influential man in the kingdom, and the one whose
frequent appearances in London would make Englishmen
acquainted with his name and the fact that he belonged to a
family of great antiquity. The name was then almost always
written SEYTON, just as Shakespeare has it, and I believe
it was made to figure in such a compromising manner, as that
of an adherent of the malevolent Macbeth, in order to cast
odium on the Lord Chancellor.

* Hist, of Scot., I., 345.
15 '

226 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

Confessors of the Faith.

John Seton, D.D., was a celebrated divine of the sixteenth
century, who belonged to the English branch of the family.
He may have sprung from the Setons of County Rutland, to
whom belonged Roger de Seyton, Lord Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas in 1274.* Henry de Seton was Principal or
Warden of Balliol College, Oxford, in 1323, and Thomas de
Setone was Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1357.

These Setons are said by the author of The Sinclairs of
England (London, 1887) to derive originally from the great
Norman family of de Sancto Claro = de Saint Clair, but their
more certain derivation is from Simon de St. Liz, whose
descendants assumed the surname of Seton. Agnes de Seton,
" the heir female of this family, married in the reign of Henry
VI. Sir William Fielding, ancestor of the Fieldings, Earls of
Denbigh." f Basil, second Earl of Denbigh, was created
2d February, 1663—64, Lord St. Liz, to commemorate this
ancestral alliance.

Dr. Seton is mentioned, along with others, in a note to
Hallam's Literary History, I., 348, among the learned men
of Cambridge about 15 30, most of whom afterward became
distinguished on one side or the other in the controversies of
the Reformation. He is also praised as a man of constancy
and patient endurance in Sander's Rise and Growth of the
Anglican Sch ism .

Dr. Seton was connected with Saint John's College, at that

time the most renowned of Cambridge University. He was

one of the chaplains of Gardiner, and was made a Prebendary

of Winchester in 1553, and afterward a Canon of York. He

died at Rome, where the following inscription was set up to

his memory, in 1567, in the Church of Saint Thomas of

Canterbury, attached to the English College.

* Edward Foss : Judges of England, pp. 607-608.
•)• Burke : Extinct and Dormant Peerages, p. 46S.

1 530-1 567] JOHN AND DAVID SETON 227

D. O. M.

R. I). Jo. Setono PR.0 Anglo
Theologiae Professori Candidiss
Qui Post Durissa Vincula Et
Multa Ad versa Pro Sacror
Dogmatum Assertione Ppessa
Romam Ex Patria Exul Yenit
Ubi An0 Aetatis Suae LXX°
Animam Deo Dicavit
XIIII Kl. Aug. MDLXVII
R. S. Anglus Ex Test Her
Opt. Mer P C

This can be translated as follows :

To God most Good most Great.

In Memory of the Reverend John Seton

An English Priest

And a very distinguished Professor of Theology

who after suffering Chains and many Persecutions in Defence

of the Holy Faith

Came to Rome an Exile from his

Native Land

And died there in the Seventieth year of his Age

On the 19th of August 1567.

R. S. an Englishman and his heir by Will

Has set this up to a very worthy Man.

The R. S. here may stand for Robert or Richard or Roger
Seton. This Very Rev. Dr. Seton was a fellow-exile, friend,
and companion of Thomas Godwell, last Catholic Bishop of
Saint Asaph. Together they signed an Attestation at Rome
on January 29, 1561, concerning the noble family of Sack-
ville.*

David Seton.

Several establishments in Scotland, belonging to the Mili-
tary Orders, owed their foundation to the piety and liberality
of King David I. in the twelfth century. One of the most

* Brady : Episcopal Succession, I., 87.

228 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1 581

important was Torphichen, a church and preceptory of the
Knights Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, situated a
few miles from Linlithgow. In 1345 Alexander de Seton is
mentioned in a charter as a Knight of the Order in that house.
The last Preceptor or Grand Master of the Order in Scotland
was Sir James Sandilands, who, having joined the Reformers
in 1560, was guilty of a breach of trust in receiving the large
estates of his Order as a temporal barony. He was raised to
the peerage under the title of Lord Torphichen, and given an
heraldic augmentation which was no less than the arms of the
Order in Scotland, thus formally perpetuating the memory of
his sacrilege. The peerage is still extant. Some remains of
the Hospital or Preceptorv are vet standing, with parts of the
choir and transepts of the church. When the Knights Hos-
pitallers were deprived of their patrimonial interest in this
property by Sir James Sandilands, they made an official pro-
test, and drew off in a body, bearing their processional cross,
with David Seton, Grand Prior of Scotland, at their head.
The transaction is alluded to in a curious satirical poem of
that period, entitled Holy Church and Her Thieves, in which
Seton is named with high praise. He went abroad and died
broken-hearted in 1581, and is buried in the church of the
Scotch Convent at Ratisbon, in Germany.

^Jesuits at Seton.

One of the most powerful factors in maintaining alive even
a spark of the ancient faith in Scotland was the missionary
ardor of the newly founded Society of Jesus. The celebrated
Father William Holt, of Lancashire, England, studied at Oriel
College, Oxford ; was ordained priest at Douay, and proceed-
ing to Rome, joined the Jesuits, May 8, 1578. In 1 58 1 he
was sent to Scotland, where he resided two vears. He said

1627] JESUITS AT SETON. 229

mass and preached in Lord Seton's house at Christmas, 158 1 —
82. He recommended that all priests coming into Scotland
should disembark at Leith, because it was only six miles from
Seton.

The next Jesuit whom we find there is Father William
Crichton. He went to Scotland in 1582. " At the time of
his arrival only one of the members of the Royal Council,
Lord Seton, remained constant to his religion. This noble-
man willingly received Fr. Crichton into his house, and
treated him with kindness and respect." *

Father James Gordon labored hard on the mission in Scot-
land. In a letter to the P'ather General from Altona, near
Hamburg, July 13, 1 597, he tells of his residence at Seton,
u which is very splendid and very agreeable, and not more
than eight miles from Edinburgh. My removal to this place
irritated the Ministers to the last degree. I had shown myself
the principal opponent of their faith or rather want of faith,
and here I was lodged in the best quarters in all Scotland,
treated as a friend, and living among my kinsmen and con-
nections." This zealous missionary died at Paris in 1620.

Another Jesuit living with Lord Seton was Father John
Ogilvie, who, after much suffering and long imprisonment
both in England and Scotland, died at Winton House in 1673.

Father James Mambrecht arrived on the Scotch Mission in
1627. " He was placed as Chaplain with George Seton,
third Earl of Winton. After residing in this capacity for
nearlv twelve years, and endearing himself to all, his noble
patron was accused of harbouring a Popish priest." Father
Mambrecht was then secretly conveyed to another country.

* Narratives of Scottish Catholics, p. 181.

230 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

Set on ^Jesuits.

The first we meet with began his missionary life as a secu-
lar priest, and is thus mentioned by Father Gordon, Superior
of the Scotch Mission, in a letter to the Father General, dated
September 1, 1597: "I met another pious Priest, Father
James Seton, who joined us from the Seminary at Pont-a-
Mousson, ten years ago, and was labouring earnestly with us in
our Lord's vineyard, as if he were one of us. He is desirous
of being admitted to the Society, but, as he is advanced in
years and somewhat infirm, we thought it best he should
remain in his present condition." Notwithstanding a first
repulse, Father Seton persevered in his petition to be received
into the Society, and was admitted. There is a letter from
him to Father Aquaviva, General of the Society, dated Sep-
tember 30, 1605, in which he gives an account of things in
Scotland. In 1628 he was profitably employed in the High-
lands. He had then in hand the conversion of Lord Ogilvie,
u the head of his clan." After some time he was ordered to
Germany ; but hearing of the disconsolate state of his aged
mother, who wished to see him before she died, he applied
for permission to return to Scotland. He is met with there for
several years after, until u the intense heat of the persecution
and the virulence of the Kirk Ministers compelled him to sail
for Norway." It is not recorded when or where he died,
but he must have been of great age.

Father Alexander Seton (1) was in Germanv, March 11,
16 1 2, when Fr. Gordon recommended his recall to Scot-
land, " appearing the most suitable subject of all for that
mission. "

Father Alexander Seton (2) went by the alias of Ross.
Was born in Scotland, November 4, 1665. After studying
his Humanities, he went for two years to the Scotch College

1 687- 1 693] SETON JESUITS. 231

at Douay for his Philosophy. Entered the Society at Tour-
nav, October 3, 1687, and was sent to Scotland in 1700.
Professed of the four vows in 1703. On the mission in
Aberdeenshire in 17 10. He was relieved of the mission for
ill-health, and retired to Douay, where he died in 1729.
" He was highly eulogized for his many virtues."

Father Alexander Seton (3), alias or vere Scringer. Henry
Folev, S.J., tell us in his Collectanea (VII., p. 938) that
the real name of this " very good and humble man, ready for
every duty of charity, as far as his infirm health would allow,"
was Seton.

Father John Seton (1). He is mentioned in a letter of
Father John Lesley to the General, 30th September, 1633,
in which he relates the distress of the Scotch Mission by the
death of its benefactor, Colonel Semple, in Spain. It does
not appear that this Father was ever on the Mission in Scot-
land. He was either Rector of the College of Scotch Jesuits,
in Madrid, at the date of this letter, or was sent there very
soon afterward, and in consequence of it, for the letter says :

" Res Hispaniensis summa diligentia P. Joanni Seton, commendanda
ut omni labore et studio soliti auxilii prorogatio impetretur."

Father John Seton (2) was formed in the Toulouse Prov-
ince of the Society, " and became a very superior missionary."
He worked for more than twenty years in Galloway, and in
December, 1686, was in Perthshire. He was one of the
earliest victims of the persecution arising from the Orange
Revolution of 1688, and was arrested and imprisoned in Black-
ness Castle. In the spring of 1693, wnen seventy years of
age, he and other priests were promised their liberty if they
would leave the country ; but they refused the terms, and were
at length discharged by proclamation. " By his engaging

2^2 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

sweetness and patient zeal, he brought back more than five
hundred strayed souls to the Church, and trained them in the
way of piety and devotion. But what could not this man of
God effect, whose life was a perpetual prayer ? " * He
died at Edinburgh in 1694.

Father John Seton (3). He was great-grandson of George,
third Earl of Winton, and grandson of Sir John Seton of
Garleton, Bart. Born November 9, 1695. Entered the
Society at Madrid, September 20, 17 16. Was Rector of the
Scotch College there. He was sent to the Scotch Mission in
1725, and was professed of the four vows ten years later at
Aberdeen. While residing at Edinburgh he admitted young
Mr. George Hav, afterward the celebrated Bishop and writer,
to a regular course of instruction and preparation, and finally
received him into the Catholic Church, of which he was to
become so great an ornament, on the feast of Saint Thomas
the Apostle, December 21, 1748. Father John Seton died
at Edinburgh, July 16, 1757.

Father Robert Seton. He was third son of Sir John Seton
of Garleton, first Baronet, and died February 6, 1732, aet. 61.
A letter of Father Thomas Fife, dated Paris, June, 1732, to
the Father General, which was long preserved in the archives
of the Society at Rome, gives some particulars of his life :

" Seton, Robert, Father (Scotch), was born in Scotland, 1671 ; entered
the Society at Toulouse, 1688, was ordained Priest 1698, and made a
Spiritual Coadjutor, October 27, 1701. He died February 6, 1732, aet. 61.
We learn his history from a letter of Father Thomas Fife or Fyffe, dated
Paris, June, 1732, to Rev. Father General in the Archives at Rome (a copy
is given in a volume Eulogia, &c, in the Stonyhurst MSS. pp. 357, seq.)
He says : ' Our beloved Father in Christ, Robert Seton, was carried off by
violent . fever, February 6th (N. S.), fortified by the sacraments of the
Church. Pie was of the noble family of the Earl of Winton ; born in Scot-
land, 1 67 1 ; educated at Douay ; entered the Society after completing- his
humanities in 1688, at Toulouse. After his noviceship he taught humani-

* Oliver : Collections.

i6qs-I73^] FATHER ROBERT SETON, S.J. 23)

ties and philosophy at the same place, and his health becoming seriously
affected, was put to his theology, making one year at Toulouse and another
at Douay. He was likewise urged on by an ardent zeal for souls and for
the mission in his native land. Ordained Priest, he acted as Prefect of the
scholars for a year at Douay, preparing himself in the interval for the
mission. He was then sent to labour in the Lord's vineyard in Scotland,
where he was professed of the three vows, October 27, 1701. Avoiding his
noble and wealthy relatives, he proceeded to the rough Highland districts,
where he assiduously and zealously worked for nearly thirty-three years. An
indefatigable missioner, as those who were witnesses of many of his doings
bear testimony.

" ' Beloved of God and man, and practised in every virtue becoming a
genuine son of the Society. Of great piety, and most devout to the Blessed
Virgin, in whose honour he thrice daily recited the Litanies and Rosary,
and this he often did with his guides on his circuits, and with the ignorant
and rough villagers and boys to inspire them with devotion and love to our
Lady.

" ' He was specially devout to St. Francis Xavier, to whom he attributed
his recovery from a dangerous illness in former years ; daily recited his litanies
and carried his picture about him. He was also a diligent emulator of the
Blessed John Francis Regis, whom he had chosen from his noviceship as
his patron and model. It was his constant practice to collect the children
•of the villages and give them familiar catechetical instruction for many hours
in the evening. Before lying down at night he spent about half an hour on
his knees in prayer with arms alia croce ; rose early in the morning to
his prayers, even during the severest winter cold, and often in houses where
he rested, exposed to wind and rain and the inclemency of the weather, and
frequently without fire or candle. He was such a lover of work that, except
by necessity, he seldom stayed three days in the same place. The fruit of
his labours was due to his assiduous practice of meditating upon heavenly
things and was doubtless rendered more successful by Divine illuminations
with which he was favoured, at times foretelling future events ; for instance,
a certain heretical parish minister having warned him to leave, lest some
•evil might befall him, he told him in the presence of some local authorities
that he should not depart ; that he, the minister himself, would be driven
out first.

' Time proved the truth of the prediction, for a few years after, upon
occasion of a riot, the minister was expelled from the town.

" ' Two or three striking cases are mentioned in proof of his ardent zeal
for the salvation of souls, his exposing his life to eminent \sic\ risk in nocturnal
expeditions, over frightful roads, amidst storms and tempest, to perform the
duties of his ministry.' In the Scotch Catalogue for 1729 he is entered as
in the College of Aboyne."*

* Foley : Records, VII., Part II., p. 700.

234 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1745.

At Terregles House, Dumfriesshire, the former residence
of the Earls of Nithsdale, I was shown in the sacristy of the
domestic chapel a small silver chalice with this inscription:
Elizabeth Maxivell JVintoniae Comitissa Me Fecit Deoque Dica-
vit, Anno. i6jj. The lady here mentioned was daughter to
John, Lord Herries, and, at this date, widow of George, third
Earl of Winton, who died in 1650. This is a precious relic
of the old missionary days in Scotland.

Setons in Prison for the '^5.

Two young men — Setons — were confined in the Tolbooth,
at Edinburgh, for some part they took in the rising of 1745
in favor of the Stuarts. They were kept there six months,
without being allowed to pare their nails or to have their hair
cut. It is a tradition that they emigrated to America. They
would not be well affected toward the British Government.
They cannot be traced in this country. Their sons, however
— hardly they themselves — may have been the Lieutenant Seton
of Colonel Clinton's "American' regiment and the Lieu-
tenant John Seton of Colonel Graham's "American" regi-
ment in 1776. There was an Ensign Seton in one of the
patriot regiments, commanded in the Revolution by Kilian
Van Rensselaer.

An officer of the Revenue Service at Kirkcaldy, in Fifeshire,
in 1747, named William Seton, " was discharged for being
concerned in the last rebellion." He went to America and
engaged in business there. He cannot be further traced, but
is probably the person mentioned below. In Liber 34, p. 486,
in the Hall of Records, New York City Hall, is a Power of
Attorney dated Januarv II, 1758, given bv Harrv Roe to his
" trusty and loving friend Mr. William Seton, of the City
of New York, merchant." Sealed and delivered in presence

1685] SETON TARTAN. SETON NAMES. 2)y

of John Learson and James Seton, of the city of New York.
These Setons do not belong to our branch, nor is anything
more known about them.

Seton of Newark.

Alexander Abercromby of Fetternear, younger brother of
James Abercromby of Birkenbog, in Banffshire, father of the
first Baronet of the family, married 'Jean, daughter of John
Seton of Newark, and had three sons, of whom Patrick Aber-
cromby, M.D., the youngest, was a writer of repute and
author of The Martial Achievements of the Scottish Nation ; and
Francis Abercromby, the eldest, having married Anne, Bar-
oness Sempill in her own right, was created a Peer of Scot-
land, for life only, as Lord Glassford, in July, 1685.

Seton 7 a r tan.

Is chiefly red, with small lines of green, black, purple, and
white. Although the Setons were a Lowland family, they
had adopted a clan cognizance before the reign of James VI.
(I. of England). It is mentioned by the author of Vestiarium
Scoticum, a treatise on Scottish costume.

Seton Names.

All old families have certain Christian or fore-names
which, in course of time, have become characteristic of them.
The knowledge that certain Christian names, to the almost
absolute exclusion of others, are found in particular families,
is often an aid in genealogical researches. Before the middle
of the fifteenth century the most common Christian names
of men in the Seton family appear to have been Christopher

236 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

and Alexander, both of which occur pretty often even after
that date. The marriage of John, Lord Seton, with Lady
Janet Dunbar, daughter of George, Earl of March, u one of
the most powerful nobles of his time," introduced the name
of George into the family. It has been a favorite ever since.
Charles, 'James, William, Henry, and Robert are also frequently
met with in the family records. The more common female
Christian names have been Margaret, Mary, Catharine, Jean,
and Elizabeth. I regret to sav that it is only in our Ameri-
can branch that a number of odiously un-Setonlike narhes are
to be found.

Setons in Sweden.
The name of Seton has been known in Sweden since the
early part of the seventeenth century. A Colonel Seton
served with credit under Gustavus Adolphus. The present
Setons of Preston and Ekolsund descend from Alexander, sec-
ond son of Sir Walter Seton, first Baronet of Abercorn.

Setons in Italy.

There was a noble family, extinct at the beginning of this
century, which had been settled in the Duchy of Milan for
over three centuries, and claimed to descend from a certain
Dominus Franciscus de Sitonis, ex Antiquis Nobdibus Regm Scotiae,
who flourished before 1485, as in the proofs of nobility sub-
mitted in 1703 by Dominus "Johannes de Sitonis.

It is stated that this branch of the family settled in Italy in
1450, in the persons of three soldiers and gentlemen, bearing
the Christian names of John, James, and Adam. The arms
that were borne by these " Sitoni di Scotia " are not the Seton
arms; and the learned Italian genealogist, mv friend Crolla-
lanza, editor of the Annuario della Nobilta, is disinclined to

1703-92] SETONS IN IT ALT— IN IRELAND. 237

accept them as a branch of the " illustrious family from which
they claimed descent." I am of the opinion, however, that
thev were genuine Setons, serving in the Scots Guard in Italy,
wounded and left to die or recover, and who recovering may
have married and settled there.

These li Sitoni di Scozia, " as they were always called,
were enrolled among the Patricians of Milan, an important
and capital city which did not easily open its Llbro cforo to
strangers. They also manifested some peculiarly Seton traits,
and furnished a succession of scholars and distinguished lit-
erati in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.
Heraldic laws and customs have never been well established
or observed in Italy, and a complete change of arms, made
for sufficient reason, would not be extraordinary. The arms
borne by the " Milanese Setons" — a river, a bridge, a castle
defending it, and a black eagle on one of its towers — would
seem to perpetuate heraldically some martial achievement
performed by the brothers, as forcing the passage of a river
and storming a tete-de-pont at the head of their command.
The spelling of the name is precisely as my own name of
Seton has been written by Italians who have only heard and
not seen it.

Setons in Ireland.

iC Alexander Seton, eldest son of James Seton of Perry-
mount, Co. Tyrone, Esquire," was admitted to Gray's Inn,
London, on November 23, 1792. He was son of James
Seton, engaged in the linen manufacture at Drogheda, who
wrote a letter from there to one of our family in New. York,
in 1797, asking for information about a son named Samuel,
who had emigrated to America, and was last heard of as
settled on ct Presque Island " in Lake Erie. The writer also

2)8 AN OLD FAMILY.

mentions that two other sons of his had gone to America
a few years before.

The only one of our name in the Dublin Directory in
1889 was " Charles Seton, Esq., 142 Tritonville Road,
Sandymount." These Setons doubtless came originally from
Scotland.

Last Man in England killed in a Duel.

The last fatal duel in England was fought with pistols,
in the garden of a country house called Wormwood Scrubbs,
a few miles out of London, between two officers of the
Marine Corps — Lieutenants Hawkeye and Seton. The latter
was killed, May 20, 1845.

" Seton Lake Mission."

It is in British Columbia, Diocese of New Westminster.
Nearly two hundred Catholic Indians are attached to it.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SETONS OF NEW YORK.

I now go back to the Parbroath line, which is continued
bv us.

I. James Seton, Esq^ He succeeded his father Robert in
the Representation of the Parbroath branch of the family, and
settled in London, where he married Margaret Newton.
There had been a baronetcy in the family given to Sir Robert
Newton, citizen of London in 1660, which became extinct
ten years later for want of male issue. He had one son and
three daughters.

1. John, of whom hereafter.

2. Mary, married to " Dr. William Robertson, co. Surrey,
of an ancient Scotch family." * Their eldest son was Cap-
tain George Robertson, R.N., who created a sensation during
the American Revolution by marrying Ann Lewis, a Philadel-

- * Robertson — the son of Robert — is a very old and distinguished Scotch
name. It is one of the rare exceptions to the rule that patronymics formed
from a Christian name followed by the filiation are of plebeian origin. They
derive remotely from the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles, through the mar-
riage of Malcolm de Instilis with Lora, " Comitissa de Atholia," in the
middle of the 13th century, and first appear as a clan in 1391. They are
called by the Highlanders Clan Donnachie, i.e. , descendants of Duncan de
Atholia (Earl of Atholl), who married a daughter of the Earl of Lennox and
had a son Robert, whence the family name. The chief of this noble clan is
Robertson of Struan, County Perth, one of whose ancestors arrested the
desperate murderers of King James L, and received for his brave services a
crown charter erecting his lands into a free barony in 145 1, and an honor-
able augmentation to his arms. — The Scottish Clans and Their Tartans,
p. S3, Edinburgh and New York, 1892.

240 AN OLD FAMILT. [a.d. 17 12

phia beauty, whose mother was a New York Livingston,
and therefore bitterly opposed to the British interest. Cap-
tain Robertson was maternal grandfather of the first Lord
Moncrieff. Mr. William Seton of New York has a very
beautiful silver-mounted shell snuff-box — a Cypraea Mau-
ritiana, whose habitat is the Indian Ocean — with an inscrip-
tion and the date 1769 engraved on the lid, which was given
to his great-grandfather by his cousin, George Robertson.
General Robertson, who at one time commanded the British
forces in New York, was nearly related to these Setons.
His only daughter became Lady Henderson in 1782.

3. Margaret, married a Dundas of Manour. She was
mother of Captain Ralph Dundas, R.N., who served with
the British fleet on the American coast during the Revolu-
tion, and was often in New York City. The Dundasses of
Manour or Manor, County Perth, were a branch of Dundas
of Duddingston, which itself was a branch of Dundas of
Dundas. The titular head of this distinguished family is the
Marquess of Zetland, but the Chief is plain Mr. Dundas (of
Dundas). Mary, sister of the Captain, and u daughter of
Ralph Dundas, Esq., of Manour," married George Aber-
cromby, Esq., of Tullibody, whose son was the gallant general
killed in Egypt, and whose grandson was Lord Abercrombv
of Aboukir.

James Seton was murdered in a rising of the slaves at Cape
Francais, in San Domingo, while on a voyage to the West
Indies with the intention of settling there and sending for his
family.

II. John Seton, Esq^, Representative of Parbroath. He
was born in 17 12, and succeeded his father in the barren
honor and some cherished heirlooms. He lived, at one time,
in Camberwell, County Surrey, and was engaged in business
in London. Andrew Elliot, third son of Sir Gilbert Elliot,
Bart., and uncle of the first Earl of Minto, who afterward

CHAPTER XVII.

MISCELLANY.

Tranent.

Tranent is a small town situated in Haddingtonshire, on
the highroad between Edinburgh and London, in the midst
of a rich agricultural country with an extended landscape
reaching off to Seton Bay and the sea. * Its history for many
centuries was intimately connected with that of the Seton
family. It stands along the brow of rising ground on the
south side of a narrow vale, at the bottom of which is a
brook ; and has its ancient name of Travernent, since abbre-
viated into Tranent, from three British words, which signify
the habitation or village at the ravine. In the oldest writs
pertaining to the Barony of Tranent, Swan or Sweyn, as Lord
of the Manor, claims preeminence. Whence he came, or
from whom descended, or how he obtained the lands is not
recorded. From the Charter of Holyrood House we know
that shortly after 1 1 24 a grant was made to Thor filius Swani
de Trannent.

This Thor or Thorald, son of Swan, died in 1154. It
would appear that with him the family ended, and that, in
accordance with feudal usage, the property reverted to the
Crown, and consequently came into the possession of Malcolm
IV., called the Maiden.

The next proprietor of these lands was Robert de Quincy,
a Northamptonshire baron, who acquired them from William
the Lion in 1165. To him succeeded, first, Saher, Secher,

* It is now (1899) a place of 2,389 inhabitants.

210 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

or Seyer, his elder son, and afterward his younger son Roger.
Roger de Quincy was Earl of Winchester in England as well
as Lord of Tranent in Scotland, of which he was Constable
in right of his wife Helen, the eldest daughter of Alan, Lord
of Galloway. Roger died, leaving three daughters co-heiresses.
The eldest daughter, Margaret, married William de Ferrers,
Earl of Derby, who got by her the Barony of Tranent ; the
second, Elizabeth, married Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan
in Scotland, and brought him the Constableship, besides El-
phinstone, Myles, and some other part of Tranent; Ela, the
youngest, married Sir Allan la Zouche of Ashby, and brought
as her share the lands of Fawside and the mines and miners of
Tranent. These ladies were first-cousins of John Balliol,
and their husbands naturally sided with him in the contest for
the crown against the Bruces. When the latter won, King
Robert u gave their estate to his kinsman and companion-in-
arms, Alexander de Seton, whose family had for several gener-
ations possessed the neighboring lands of Seton and Winton."
It was customary for the Earls of Winton, one of whose
titles was Lord Tranent, to ride the marches once a year —
that is to sav, to ride in state around the boundaries of their
compact possession — Seton, Winton, and Tranent — the extent
of which may be inferred from the fact of its taking a whole
day, from sunrise to sunset, to do it. On these occasions the
earl was always accompanied by a very large retinue of friends
and retainers, mounted on gayly caparisoned horses, that of
the chief being arrayed in a cloth of silk with gold tassels
hanging to the ground. The earl kept " open house," and
the festivities lasted over several days. *

* In the thirteenth century the value of this great estate was, we find,
£15 annually. In the seventeenth century (1653), according to the
cess-roll of the County of Haddington, including casualties arising from
coal, salt, etc., it was estimated at ^14,925. Throughout a long term of
years, in all civil affairs, the house of Seton or Winton is ever found either
leading the van or pressing determinedly forward. But in religious matters

1200] BARONY OF TRANENT. 211

No sooner had the Setons acquired the Barony of Tranent,
than the excavation of coal on that estate was prosecuted with
new and enlightened vigor. The earliest mention of the
working of coal in Scotland is in connection with Tranent
and the country immediately around it, and is found in a
charter of Seyer de Ouincy to the monks of Newbattle, which
must have been granted, says Chalmers, between 1202 and
1 2 18. When ^Eneas Sylvius — afterward Pope Pius II. —
visited Scotland under James I. (1424— 1437), coal and its use
as a combustible was something so wonderful as to be next
thing to a miracle.*

The ancient church of Tranent, so barbarously destroyed
in 1797, was constructed about the middle of the eleventh
century; but most of its earlier history is lost. The oldest
record relating to the subject is of about the year 1145, when
Thor or Thorald, the son of Swan, confirmed to the canons-
regular of St. Augustine of the Abbey of Holyrood House,
founded by King David in 1128, the church of Tranent,
reserving the rights of Walleran, the chaplain, during his life.
The canons enjoyed the church, with its rights and revenues,
which were very considerable, until the Reformation. The
parish was served by a vicar, who had the " small " tithes for
his support. In 1222 we find one John exercising the office,

their progressive part seems to have been played prior to the days of Wish-
art, Knox, and Melville. All through, that family are said to have been
bitterly and resolutely opposed to the Reformation. But the glories of the
House of Winton have departed forever ; and sad it is to think that this
ancient and once powerful family, after possessing these lands for about six
hundred years, should, at last, in 1715, be deprived of all, through their
devoted attachment to the unfortunate House of Stuart. — McNeill : Tra-
nent and its Surroundings, 1884.

* Europae Descriptio, II., Cap. xlvi. Visitors to Siena will remember
the beautiful series of mural paintings by Pinturicchio in the Piccolomini
Hall or Library of the cathedral, illustrating events in the life of ^Eneas Syl-
vius, one of which shows his presentation to the Scotch king. "It is a
purely conventional production, and has no suggestion of reality " (Brown :
Early Travellers in Scotland, p. 29).

212 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

and in 1320 the place is filled by Andrew. After that we
hear no more of the vicar until 1562, when Thomas Cran-
ston, who had been inducted by the canons at some earlier
date unknown, is found installed as minister, a member of the
Assembly, and married. The conclusion is, that he con-
formed to the Protestant religion.

The churchyard of Tranent contains some old tombstones.
The finest one is that of —

Bailie Seton.

" The following tombstones, that of Seton to the right and that of Vallance
to the left of the entrance from the new to the old churchyard, seem to
have been the most beautiful ever erected within these grounds. The fact
of the Seton shield, &c, being elaborately carved on the former, indicates
that he to whose memory the stone was raised must have been a scion of the
House of Winton. Inscription as follows : —

Bailie

George Seton,

Farmer at Seton,

Died the 10th day of May 1760, aged 82.

You err, O reader, if you should expect
Big swelling words, immodesty, respect
How short man's life, 'las, while we live we

die ;
To know man's life, keep death still in your

eye.- —

To the memory

Of Katherine Turnbull, relict

of George Seton, Farmer in Seton,

who died Oct. 5th, 1766,

Aged 73 years." *

Another old stone, supported by four stout pillars with
sculptural adornments, is that of Hutchison, but originally
erected by an Earl of Winton to some one of his family, as
seen by the earliest inscription, which is to a u William Seton,
Tenant in Seton," who died in 1706, and to Agnes, his
spouse.

* McNeill : Tranent.

1 145—1562] BAILIE SETON' S TOMB.

213

The Hutchisons, to whom the place of sepulture now
belongs, claim descent from the House of Seton. Captain
William Hutchison, who was Governor of Cape Coast Castle
in Africa, and died when at home on a visit in 1832, is
buried here, as also Captain George Hutchison, R.N., whose
book-plate I possess. He was uncle to the Misses Hutchison,
living at Seton Lodge, Tranent, upon whom I called, to my
great pleasure and satisfaction, in 1889. The Seton arms are
cut in stone over the
entrance to the Lodge.

Another tombstone,
of 1 700, recalls "Adam
Persone, Shoemaker
and Tanner in Seton,"
reminding us of the
bright little village of
that name which so
long existed beside the
castle. It was ruth-
lessly destroyed, after a
cruel eviction of the
poor tenants at the end
of the last century, by
the same monster of
bad taste who pulled
down Seton House.

Sir Walter Scott says
of this little village in

his Provincial Antiquities (II., 144): " Close by the palace of
Seton there formerlv subsisted a village, inhabited by a class
of persons termed Rentallers, or kindly tenants ; cottagers that
is, who had no proof to show of their possession excepting
their being entered in the Lord's rental book as possessors of
the various petty tenements, which they enjoyed. for trifling re-

' Seton?

BAILIE SETON S TOMB, IN TRANENT
CHURCHYARD.

214 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d.

turns, the principal advantage derived by the Baron being,
doubtless, his having the benefit of their military service in
case of his having in the expressive, though oblique, phrase of
those old times, ' aught to do.' "

In a short account of the Mission of Tranent and of the
laying of the corner-stone of a Catholic church in 1891,
which was kindly sent me by Rev. Father Roche, there is an
illustration of Seton Chapel. Among the contributors to the
building of the church are the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquess
of Bute, the Duchess Dowager of Buccleugh, Major-General
Lord Ralph Kerr, C.B., and other distinguished people.
There is only one of the name of Seton among the contribu-
tors, and he is an American.

J V itch craft in Tranent.

Tranent of all places in Scotland was the most notorious
for its witcheries, sorceries, and necromancies. David Seton
has been held up to just execration, says one writer, as the
man who " struck the spark that caused this appalling explo-
sion of national insanity." The celebrated case in which the
"Scottish Solomon," as King James I. (of England) was
called, took such a personal interest, and to which Burton alludes
in the seventh volume of his History (p. 115), was that of a
young, comely, and intelligent maid-servant in Seton' s family
named Gillis Duncan. Bv use of the pilliwinkis, or thumb-
screws, a confession of witchcraft was forced from her by
this grim official, in the presence of five witnesses, after she
was discovered one moonlight night (for she used to disappear
out of the house mysteriously) walking alone in the haunted
churchyard of Tranent. She was then summoned to Holy-
rood bv the king, and was required, while playing a Jew's
harp, to dance before the court " the reel she had performed
for the devil and the witches in the kirk of North Berwick,"

1590]

WITCHCRAFT IN TRANENT.

215

a saltatory exercise with which, says the chronicle, his Majesty
was wonderfully pleased — which reminds one of Tam-o'-
Shanter's u Weel done, Cutty-Sark ! " at the midnight revels
of Kirk-Alloway.

The Seton-thorn, an historical landmark near the family
castle, appears to have been a famous trysting-place for
witches, and is frequently mentioned in Pitcainvs Criminal
Trials and works of special information on these phenomena
in Scotland.

Old Buildings of Tranent.

There are few old houses still standing in Tranent, and
these are doomed to give way to sanitary and domestic im-
provements. The oldest and most interesting of them is
Tranent Tower. It is magnificent, and very solidly built.
It was probably constructed by Swan, in the eleventh cen-
tury. Here his son Thor dwelt ; and its thick walls have
guarded the Quincys, the Ferrers, and the Setons.

Another building is called The Old Dookit. It is seen

OLD TRANENT CHURCH AND, BEYOND IT, DAVID SETON'S DOOKIT

216 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

just beyond the church in the illustration of Tranent. It
stands — or perhaps stood, for I heard recently that it was to
be taken down — on a prominent position in a field opposite
the churchyard, commonly called the Dookit Brae. It was
built in the latter part of the sixteenth century by David
Seton, who was Chamberlain to his relative Lord Seton and
Deputy Bailiff of Tranent town. It had been constructed, as
the pigeon holes show, to accommodate 1,090 pair of pigeons,
and bears the following inscription : David Sitoun — 158 J.

Fahide

Falside Castle, now in ruins, has a remarkable history. It
lies about eight miles to the east of Edinburgh, and nearly
two miles to the west of the village of Tranent. It is a
strong and ancient fortalice, and a picturesque object in that
land of mediaeval towers, and is supposed to have been begun
in the latter part of the eleventh century, and probably by
Saher de Say himself, who there found his first secure resting-
place in Scotland. Its earliest history connects it with the
Seton family, to a younger branch of which it once belonged
and gave a name, " who styled themselves Seton of Falside,"
and afterward " de Falside" only, a not uncommon process
in far-back times in Scotland, when juniors succeeding to or
in any way acquiring an independent estate often dropped the
patronymic and assumed a totally new name — either that of
the heiress-wife or of the mother from whom they got the
property, or that of the land itself. Thus, the Edmonstones
of Edmonstone were originally Setons, as is now recognized
even by themselves.* The Gordons and the Montgomeries
also are examples of change of name on succeeding to great
inheritances.

* Genealogical Account of the Family of Edmonstone of Dttntreath.

1 1 20]

FJLSIDE CASTLE.

217

RUINS OF FALSIDE CASTLE.

During the twelfth century the castle was inhabited by
William de Ffauside, who sat in the Parliament of King
David I. In the same century, Edmund de Ffauside witnessed
the charter by which that king granted lands to Thor of
Tranent; and during the reign of William the Lion, Gilbert
de Fauside witnessed a charter to the neighboring monastery
of Saint Mary of Newbattle. " The oldest part of the struc-
ture is of high but unknown antiquity, and contains in its
stair a curious hiding-place; and even the newer parts are
comparatively very old, but are less massive. The castle
gave Protector Somerset some trouble on the morning of the
Battle of Pinkie, and was then burnt, but not very materially
damaged." * A large additional tower, after a more con-
venient style, was built about 16 18, which date is seen, along
with the initials J. F. and J. L., cut into the stone above one
of the windows. The dovecote of the castle still stands, and

* Topographical and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland, II., 766.

218 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

within it is a place of concealment or of confinement, secured
by an antique grated door. Many of the inmates of the castle
were burned alive or smothered by the smoke during the cruel
English invasion of 1547; but although rendered uninhabit-
able for a time, it was not then altogether destroyed, on
account of the massive structure of its walls, ranging from four
and a half to six feet thick, and its first floor and roof being
arched over with stone. The gable end to the south, both
corners of which are turreted, rises to fiftv feet in height.
This part must have been among the repairs made after the
burning. The family is brought down, in an almost unbroken
line, by charters at different times, although these furnish but
a rather dry list of names and dates to tell its history. Thus,
in 1296 Robert de Fauside signed the Ragman's Roll.*
Four years later, Roger and William swore allegiance to
Edward I. of England; but Roger, later on, obtained a re-
grant of the lands from good King Robert Bruce, who knew
under what duress he must have acted. Sir Thomas de
Fauside witnessed a charter of Duncan, Earl of Fife, to the
Monastery of Lindores in 1350; Malcolm de Fauside gave
a charter in 1366, which was witnessed bv the Sheriff of
Edinburgh; in 1 37 1 "William de Seton as overlord conveved
to his kinsman John de Fawside, for " true and faithful ser-
vice," the lands of Wester Fawside, in the Barony of
Tranent; in 1425 William de Fawside and Marjorie Fleming,
his spouse, obtained the lands of Tolvgart. In 1472 John
Fawside of that Ilk married Margaret, daughter of Sir John
Swinton of Swinton; and on his death, in 1503, she took the
veil and died Prioress of the Cistercian Convent at Elcho.

* No acceptable etymology or meaning' has yet been found for this
peculiar term Ragman. The Rolls, so called, contain the names of those
who did homage to King Edward I. in his triumphal progress through
Scotland, when he was prepared to punish all who should maintain their
independence.

1296-167?] END OF THE FALSIDE FAMILY. 219

About 1540 a battle was fought, the occasion of which was a
quarrel about their cattle which watered in a stream common
to both estates, between Hamilton of Preston and Fawside
of that Ilk and their fierce retainers. The former were finally
defeated, but not until the aged Chief of Falside had been
dragged from his horse and killed in the melee. Between 1555
and 1583 " Thomas Fawside de eodem " entered into a trans-
action with the Abbot of Dunfermline. In 16 16 James Faw-
side of that Ilk became pledge and security for Sir Patrick
Chirnside of East Nisbet, who was accused of abducting a
girl of thirteen from Haddington ; and in the same year — on
November 10th — John Fawside, the Laird's brother, was
assassinated by his servant, who suffered death for the crime
at Edinburgh. "James Seton of Fallsyde " was one of the
mourners at the magnificent public funeral of Alexander Seton,
Earl of Dunfermline and Lord Chancellor of Scotland in 1622.
He can be no other than the " James Fawside of that Ilk'
who avenged his brother's death, as above; and it is some-
thing very singular, indicating a species of reversion in this
family toward its original patronymic on so great a ceremonial
occasion in which they would claim a right to take part. In
163 1 Robert Fawside of that Ilk is mentioned; and in 1666
James, his oldest son, witnessed a charter to George, Earl of
Haddington.- James seems to have been the last of the male
line of the Fawsides of Fawside, originally Setons of Fawside,
Fauside, or Falside. His daughter and heiress, Agnes, mar-
ried Sir William Douglass of Kelhead, Knight, second son of
the first Earl of Oueensberry. He was an officer in the army,
and died Governor of Carlisle, in 1673. Their eldest son
was made a Baronet of Nova Scotia on February 20, 1688,
and in 18 10 the fifth baronet succeeded to the title of Mar-
quess of Oueensberry. His grand-nephew, the present mar-
quess, is the lineal descendant in the female line and Repre-
sentative in blood of the House of Fawside; but the heritage

220 AN OLD FAMILY. [A.D.

of this ancient family has passed to Sir George Grant-Suttie,
Bart., and all that now remains of a race that flourished there
for over four hundred years are the ruins of the old weather-
beaten castle bearing their name, and a quaint though much-
defaced tablet, formerly in the inside, but now on the outside
north wall of Tranent Church, inscribed " John Fawside of
that ilk."

The arms were gules^ a fess or between three bezants of the
same. The tinctures are those of Seton, only reversed. The
fess, in heraldry, is a bar drawn across the middle of the
shield, and is emblematical, perhaps, of the military belt or
girdle worn by knights around the emblazoned surcoat or outer
garment, which was thrown over the armor to keep it from
rust and dirt. The bezants, or golden roundels, representing
a Byzantine coin or money of Constantinople, would seem to
indicate some Crusading ancestor who was made prisoner, and
had to ransom himself from the Infidel.

Elphinstone Castle.

This grand ruin is situated on rising ground in the southern
extremity of the Parish of Tranent. It is built on solid rock.
Nothing but the great tower now remains, but it is one of
the most remarkable and best preserved of the old Scottish
keeps. It is an oblong square more than sixty-five feet high,
constructed of large blocks of hewn stone, laid in courses.
The walls at the base are over twelve feet thick. The build-
ing is entered through a Norman-shaped archway. A narrow
stone staircase leads up to the second story, which forms a
single apartment — the feudal banqueting hall — thirty feet
long, eighteen feet wide, and nearly twenty-five feet high.
It is lighted bv two windows, from which there are beautiful
views over the surrounding country. This apartment con-

1 2 50- 1 509] ELPHINSTONE TOWER. 221

tains a monument of heraldic interest to several families, for
over the enormous open fireplace is a line of eight armorial
shields finely carved in stone. The Seton arms — once with
and once without the Double Tressure — occur twice, because

■ v*-r3

m ~-i

Elph 1 n ston k Tow e r .

that family was twice connected with the noble house of El-
phinstone. They are the first and second in the row. The
lands of Elphinstone, like those of Falside, were at one time
a part of the great Manor of Tranent. John de Elphinstone
witnessed a charter in 1250, and died in 1260. He is said
to have erected the tower. The baronial familv of Elphin-
stone took its surname from the lands so called in Lothian,
which they held in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries from
the Setons. The Elphinstones swore allegiance to King

222 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1040-105 i

Edward I. of England in 1296. On the triumph of Bruce
and the National party they had to suffer the consequences,
and their property was bestowed by the king on his nephew,
Sir Alexander de Seton. Ere long, however, the estate
returned to its original possessors through the heir of the
attainted house marrying Margaret, daughter of Sir Christopher
Seton, and sister of the fortunate and generous Sir Alexander.
In 1338 John de Elphinstone, a descendant of Margaret
Seton, was witness to a charter.

This ancient and distinguished family is now represented in
the Peerage by Lord Elphinstone. Creation, 1509.

u Sevton, an Officer Attending on Macbeth."

Macky, in his 'Journey Through Scotland, published in 1 723,
after describing the " Palace of Seton," goes on to speak of
the family, and says: u They are also very ancient. Shake-
speare in his tragedy of Macbeth brings in the Lord Seton."
It seems, at first sight, a stain on the escutcheon of the Setons
to be thus associated with Macbeth.*

The truth is, however, that Duncan was a usurper, Mac-
beth's claim to the crown being the better; and he was slain
in a sudden encounter within the territory ruled by Macbeda
(or Macbeth), the Maormor of Ross, while there with aggres-
sive designs. The place where he was killed was called Both-
gowan, which means in Gaelic the smith's hut, or the smithy.
Duncan's taking off was a Nemesis, for Macbeth 's wife,
Gruach, was the daughter of that prince named Bode, whose
son or grandson had been put to death by Malcolm with the
object of securing the succession to his own grandson Duncan,

* This was once thrown up to me by a rich New Yorker — type of an
envious class of moneyed people :

N011 ragioniam di /or, ma guarda e passa. — Dante.

■Jf '.-,

^/Z^/r^<- c). lb.

1797] NEW TORK SOCIETY. 283

" I send copies of two printed invitations, found by me in one of the
many drawers of a once elegant writing-desk, imported from France by my
great-grandfather, in the last century :

" ' Commemoration Ball,

The honor of

Company is requested on Wednesday evening, the 22d

of February, to celebrate the Birth of GEORGE WASHINGTON,

President of the United States.

Managers :

James Farquhar, William Seton,

James Scott, Aquila Giles.

New York, 1797.'

"It is a stiff piece of white pasteboard card, five inches long by three
wide. All the lettering and scroll border are conspicuously in red. The
other is of same size and material, but the lettering and elaborate border are
in plain black. It reads as follows :

" ' CITY ASSEMBLY.

ADMIT FOR THE NIGHT.

Managers :
James Farquhar, W. M. Seton,

Jacob Morton, J. R. Livingston,

Aquila Giles, Will. Armstrong.

1797.

New York.'

" It is remarkable that five of these six names, most prominent in New
York society one hundred years ago, are of Scotch origin. The first invita-
tion was of a mixed or politico-social character, and the red scroll border is
' broken ' at rare intervals — as if anything heraldic were a delicate subject
— by tiny stars — in compliment to the chief of the nation, and by fleurs-de-
lys in compliment, perhaps, to the France of the Bourbons which had passed
away, but which Federalist gentlemen would still recognize, were it only in
protest of the insolent Jacobin Citizen Genet and his faction in our country :
for New York was, at this period, the refuge of many French emigres — and
these exiles were generally nobles. The second invitation was of a purely
social character, and I discover in it one of the first faint efforts to introduce
again to society the family arms of colonial days, and an attempt moreover
to blend, in doing so, the two social elements — Patriots and Loyalists —
which had been recently very much estranged from one another.

" Of these six managers the two recognized social leaders were Living-
ston and Seton, both descended from Scotch titled families ; but one the
social representative of the victorious party, the other of the defeated adhe-
rents of the British government. Hence we find large gilly-flowers, the

284 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

well-known device of the patriotic Livingstons, at the four corners of the
ornamental border of the invitation card, and a row of crescents, the equally
well-known device of the aristocratic Setons on the upper line. In con-
junction with these crescents are diminutive gilly-flowers, which strengthens
the opinion that the design of the invitation card was deliberately meant
to symbolize the social harmony which then began and has continued
ever since.

"Although a modern writer on the condition of the colonies says bitterly
that ' the upper classes were generally Tories,' I may add that those of
them who remained after the Revolution became thorough Americans.
Yet, whoever knows la vie intime of our most patriotic old New York
families knows also that, discreetly hidden away from the public, there
exists — merely as a matter of sentiment and purely from the social point of
view — a certain pride in a Loyalist ancestor, or a quiet appreciation of some
British connection in 1776 ; for it is undeniable that the Revolution intro-
duced a new set of people into New York society, just as, later, Money
introduced a still newer one."

A very sweet and enduring friendship sprang up between
Mrs. Seton and her sister-in-law, Rebecca, who was born on
December 20, 1780. She was a beautiful character, and I have
no doubt but that, had she lived, she would have entered the
Catholic Church too. Mrs. Seton, writing to a bosom friend
in 1798, says of her: ll Rebecca is without exception the
most truly amiable young woman I ever knew, and does honor
to the memory of my poor father [in-law] who was her director
in everything. Her society is a source of pleasure to me,
such as is altogether new and unexpected ; for until I was
under the same roof I always thought her an uninformed girl
with many good qualities very much neglected. But I find
the contrary every day."

The following letter to Rebecca is interesting :

" Craggdon, 3d August, 1799.
" I have often told you, my Rebecca, that I had determined never again
to allow myself the enjoyment of any affection beyond the bounds of mod-
eration, but, really, your loving letters, the remembrance of the past hours,
and the thousand thoughts of you that strike me every day at this place,
make it no easy matter to restrain my expressions when T write to you. I
never busy about the house, or dress the flower-pots or walk in the garden,
but you are as much my companion as if you were actually near me ; and

1799] REBECCA SETOX. 285

last evening finding- myself by the garden wall at the spot whereon we used
to stand at sunset last fall, anticipating in our pleasant talk what we would
do this summer, I was so struck by the recollection and the uncertainty
of when I should see you again, that I had a hearty crying spell, which is
not a very common thing with me, nor do I suppose would have happened
but that I have ever since the first moment you left me had a strong pre-
sentiment that our separation was for a long while. My spirits, too, were
very much depressed by a letter I received from Aunt Cayley, with a box
containing the souvenirs of her mother. One is her old fashioned watch,
which is for Mrs. Andrew Seton ; another is the picture of our father, and
is left to his eldest unmarried daughter, consequently is yours, my love. I
suppose you remember the portrait ; it was painted by Ramage, and sent to
your grandmother in the year ninety. I am to deliver it in your own hands
is the direction.

"How is my dear little Cecilia? Write me every particular ; but not
if it hurts your chest, for I know you have many to write to, and I would
receive no pleasure from your letters if I thought you were in pain while
writing. Heaven preserve my dear Rebecca, and restore her to her affec-
tionate sister, E. A. Seton."

And as a specimen of Rebecca's style, I subjoin the follow-
ing;, written to Elizabeth from Dover, in Delaware, while on
a visit to her sister, Airs. Vining :

" Dec. 27th, 1799.
"I retire from the bustle of company to devote some time to my ever
dear sister. It seems an age since I heard from her. Why is she so long
silent ? A letter from Aunt Farquhar mentions your being at the theater, so
that you are well ; I shall therefore expect to hear from you soon. You
must feel in a measure lost without the girls, after being with you so long,
and quite quiet, no doubt, for they must have made a great uproar. I have
had many letters from them since their return to Brunswick, and they write
in perfect ecstasy at the happy hours they passed at home, which delighted
me. My little Anna must have grown almost out of my recollection. Pray
don't let her forget her godmother. What are your plans for New Year's
day? Do you all dine together as usual? John is still in Baltimore, and
mentioned in his last letter that if I had the wish to go on to Xew York this
winter, or thought I could stand the weather and bad roads he would will-
ingly escort me. But really, dear sister, it would be madness to attempt
such a thing. There are so many inconveniences attending a like journey
in the depth of winter, that much as I desire to see you all I will give it up
and remain here until spring. The affectionate attention of the family pre-
vents me from regretting I am absent from home — at least as much as I
otherwise would. We now and then have little family parties, but do not
live, as in Xew York, in a continual round of dissipation. My Cecilia has

286 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

■
improved most astonishingly since you saw her. She has grown quite tall
and rosy, and shall not, if I can help it, lose anything by being kept away
from school. She reads charmingly, is now going through the ' Economy
of Human Life,' and can hem a handkerchief. It is an occupation for me
to teach her. She is always talking of Anna. Remember me with affection
to all the family. Your loving sister,

" Rebecca Seton."

The following letter to Lady Cayley from Mrs. Seton gives
many little particulars of the family :

"New York, December, 1799.

" My first letter was written from Wall Street, from which we were driven
by the yellow fever. My William was the only one of the family who suf-
fered in the least ; which, as it is so numerous, was almost a miracle. We
did not dare to venture to town as inhabitants, until the first of November,
when we removed immediately to the family house in Stone Street. My
husband, with the general consent of the family, sold the greater part of the
furniture, as most of it had been in use ever since my father's * first mar-
riage, and we have abundance of our own since we were married. The
things that were not sold were valued by competent judges, and the plate
was divided.

" Mary and Charlotte, the two girls next Rebecca, are placed at an
English boarding-school established in Brunswick, State of New Jersey,
about thirty miles from New York ; and the two younger girls passed the
winter at home, where Rebecca and I taught them spelling, reading, and
writing, until her health made it impossible to give them the necessary
attention. When Mary and Charlotte returned after their spring vacation,
they took Harriet with them to school, and Cecilia, the youngest, accom-
panied Rebecca. She is a very delicate child, and one of the most amia-
ble little creatures in the world. Samuel and Edward, whom my father
used to call his little pillars, and always had one on each side of him at table,
are the most promising lovely boys that ever were, and have a marked
elegance and grace in their appearance and manners that distinguishes them
from any boys of their age I ever saw, and a sweetness of disposition un-
equaled. They are under the care of the Rev. Mr. Bowden,f in Cheshire,
State of Connecticut ; and although we hear .from them once a week we are
very sorry to have them so far from home ; but it is inconceivable how
difficult it is to educate children in our city, although it is the reservoir of
people of all nations, and you would suppose from its being one of the

* Her father-in-law's.

f Dr. John Bowden, a clergyman born in Ireland, was long the principal
of an Episcopal academy in Cheshire, and later a professor in Columbia
College, New York City.

1799] LETTER TO LADY CATLET. 287

capital cities of America it could command any thing. The general want is
good schools, and many families that can not part with their children are
really suffering from it.

" Brother James and his family are at present in the country, that is, five
miles from town. He has lost a lovely boy, five years of age, this spring,
at the moment of the birth of a daughter. John and his two little daughters
reside in Virginia. Henry is in the American navy, a lieutenant on board
the Baltimore sloop-of-war.

" Mrs. Vining remains in Delaware. She has a fine family of boys, and
enjoys better health than formerly. Aunt Seton * is very happy in Albany,
in the society of her three daughters ; two of whom presented her, each, a
second grandchild but a few days ago, and she hourly expects to hear that
Mrs. Chancellor has also increased the number. I think, my dear aunt, I
have given you a pretty good account of us all, except my own three sweet
children, who I can reasonably assure you are not surpassed by any. My
Anna-Maria is the very model of all we could even wish for ; and per-
haps my change of life may be one of her greatest advantages, as it has
altered her young mother into an old one, better calculated to watch the pro-
gress of her active little mind. William grows so wonderfully like his grand-
father, that you would scarcely believe it possible a child could be so much
like a parent ; and appears to have as many traces of his disposition and
manners as he has of his features. Richard, our youngest, is, if possible,
lovelier than either. I am his nurse, as I have been to all the others, and
although he is able to stand up and lay his head in my bosom. I can not
find courage to wean him yet.

41 Your kind confidence in my good qualities, my dear aunt, is very flat-
tering and grateful to me — particularly if I may hope that it has been com-
municated from the pen of him whose good opinion I so much valued. I
can never lament the season of youth ; for that of middle age is much more
desirable and lasts much longer, particularly if it properly prepares the way
to honorable old age, and accumulates such materials as will make that
happy. All my leisure hours have that aim ; and if the point anticipated is
never reached, it certainly occupies the present moments to the best advan-
tage, and if ' their memory remains ' it will be a source of the greatest
pleasure. I am not yet five and twenty, but the last year has made both
William and me at least ten years older. In order to give you a more per-
fect idea of what we are like, we forwarded to Mr. Maitland, a few months
ago, an engraving of us both to be sent to you. They are good likenesses,
but disfigured by the dress of the hair. If ever you go to London, you will
see at Mr. Maitland's a portrait of our father, the greatest likeness imagi-
nable, copy of one done by an eminent artist, of the name of Stuart, who
made his appearance in this city a few months previous to his death. f

* Margaret, wife of Andrew Seton, of whom hereafter.
f A few months before Mr. Seton's death.

288 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

It is precisely what he was, as well in feature as in figure. The original is
in our possession, and is all to us but himself, from its uncommon resem-
blance. This is altogether a family letter, and of such length that I will
defer to my next many little communications you might wish for. It is
necessary you should know something of every individual of the family in
America, that you may be better able to trace us in idea, until some fortunate
chance may bring us nearer to you, or you to us ; but I fear the immense
ocean between us will be an everlasting barrier to a meeting I so much
desire. My William says he will add a few lines, if it is only to acknowl-
edge the receipt of an affectionate letter he received from you on the 4th of
August, many months after it was written."

Early in the year 1800 William Seton's affairs became em-
barrassed, and he found himself involved in difficulties which
he was not able to surmount, and before two years were over
he had lost his fortune. He found in his wife a woman of
indomitable energy and a support in all his trials.

(Letter from Mrs. Seton to Mrs. Scott in Philadelphia.)

" New York, Jan. 3d, 1800.
" My Dearest Julia, — I write only to wish you a Happy New Year and
to tell you, if the news of our misfortunes have reached you, that you must
do as I do : Hope the best. My Seton is in a distress of mind scarcely to
be imagined ; partly from the shock he has received, which was altogether
unexpected, and partly from the necessity of immediate statement of
accounts, etc., which is necessary for his personal honor and the satis-
faction of his friends. The directors of the banks and all the principal
merchants, even those who were concerned with him, recommended and
strongly advised his suspension of payments as soon as he had received Mr.
Maitland's * letters. You may suppose how much it has cost him, both in
mortification and the uncertainty of the event. What is to become of his
father's family, heaven only knows, for his estate has the first claim because
he was the principal partner. For himself he could immediately be in a
better condition than before ; so great is the confidence in his integrity
that he has had three offers of money to any amount he would name, but he
has determined to leave every thing at a stand still till the partnership is
expired next June twelve months. For the girls I must use economy, and

* Mr. Maitland was the head of the London branch of the firm. The
loss off the island of Texel of a ship carrying a large amount of specie from
Amsterdam, to relieve the distress in that quarter, was the immediate cause
of the failure in England, and this brought after it that of the house in New
York, which, moreover, had lost considerably by the French spoliations.

1800] LETTER FROM LADY CAYLET. 289

in case of unnecessary demands appeal to their reason. Dear, dear Julia,
how long I have been tired of this busy scene ; but it is not likely to mend,
and I must be thankful for what may remain from the ruins of Wall Street.

' ' Yours most truly,

" E. A. Seton."

(Lady Cay ley to Elizabeth Seton.)

" N.3., September ye 16th, 1S00.

" My Dearest Niece, — It is now a long time since I wrote to you ; only
having wrote once since I received yours by Mr. Ogden, who I did intend
to have sent a letter by on his return from Hamburg, but from my not
knowing when that was ye time slipped away, by my being at Scarborough,
before I was aware of so much being gone, and I fear now there is no chance
of his carrying this to you ; but I am resolved to take ye chance and write
to you while in my power, for when I have crossed ye water I can never be
certain of my letters reaching you.

" I hope you have received my number two, that answered yours by Mr.
Ogden, ye contents of which did indeed grieve me so much as to have it
seldom out of my thoughts ever since ; being interested for you all as if
children of my own, and ye unluckiness of affairs having gone so wrong
makes me constantly anxious to know how you support it and what my dear
William contrives in this sad change of things. I wrote to Mr. Maitland to
know how affairs really stood, and by his answer I understood ' both houses
were to go on for three years longer, if your friends in New York agreed to
the same things those in London did, — but that the whole effects of the
industry of former years would be quite lost,' which is indeed a most cruel
case and must affect him and you all extremely, requiring great fortitude of
mind to support ; but I doubt not that your religious minds induce you to
submit without repining to what you are conscious was no fault of your own
in any respect ; and as these great events in life (when they do not arise
from our own misconduct) never happen but for some good purpose, we
must endeavor not to repine, but turn our thoughts to what advantage we
can find in them as regards our happiness in ye next world ; as ye want
of success in this world's affairs has been to many ye first of blessings in that
respect. I will therefore hope that neither of you are unhappy about it,
and that your dear and amiable William has kept his health through all
these tryals, and fallen upon some plan to give a sufficiency to all his numer-
ous charge, which I own I am anxious to hear and long much for a letter
from your dear self to tell me. I have been ever since February last on a
visit to my dear Anne Worsly. They would then make me go with them to
Scarborough, where they were going to spend ye summer for their eldest
son's health, who was ordered sea bathing for some months together.
Scarb'ro is a very romantic place, where a great deal of company goes all
ye summer to bathe, and is gay in assemblies, plays, etc. ; but people may
either go to them or not, which makes it very pleasant ; and as we were

290 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

sometimes quiet and sometimes gay, according as our friends were there or
not, we found it very pleasant ; and I only left it four days ago to set out for
Ireland on a melancholy occasion ; to comfort my poor sister Lady Synnot,
who has just lost her eldest daughter in a consumption which began but this
spring. She suffered dreadfully, poor soul, to ye very last, and my sister
never left her a moment, which has so exhausted her, by adding such
fatigue to distress of mind, as to make her very ill. She has so charming a
feeling heart as makes her delightful to her friends. She was so fond of
your dear and amiable father that we never dared tell her of his death till ye
end of last winter, when ye hearing of it half killed her. And she was so
affected at what she supposed only his silence, that she wrote letter after
letter, pouring out ye affections of her heart to him, which her husband kept
without her knowing it, and when she did know it, she grieved they had not
gone — even for you to read, that you might have known how fondly she
doated on him, and by it become acquainted with her, and thought that now
she should be always a stranger to you. This I tell you to give you some
idea of her amiable mind, for she is a most charming woman ; if you knew
her you would doat on her as I do.

"I set out from Brompton yesterday, and expected to be at ,* ye

sea-shore that I embark from, ye night after to-morrow, and as I can not
either cross ye sea or leave mv sister this winter, I shall spend it in Ireland.
Therefore, as I trust you will get this and write in time for my hearing
from you while there, you must direct to me at Sir Walter Synnot's, Mount-
joy Square, Dublin.

" I only wish I could witness my dear William's and your felicity, which
I picture to myself is charming, imparting you strength to stand ye shock
of all adversities while blessed with each other and your darling babes.
Farewell, may Heaven ever bless you with peace and health."

In November, 1797, Mrs. Seton, with a few other society
ladies, founded the first charity organization in New York,
and probably in the United States. The hundredth anniver-
sary of the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small
Children was celebrated in 1897 with much eclat. She had
been strictly brought up in the tenets of the Protestant Epis-
copal Church, and became a particular favorite of the Rev.
Mr. (afterward Bishop) Hobart. One of Dr. Hobart's daugh-
ters, Rebecca Seton Hobart, was a godchild of Mrs. Seton, and
after marrying Bishop Ives of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in North Carolina, became a Catholic with her husband.

* Name illegible.

1801] DEATH OF DR. BATLET. 291

Dr. Bayley was Health Officer of the Port of New York,
and lived near the Quarantine building on Staten Island. He
died there of ship-fever, contracted in the line of duty in
1 80 1. The following is his daughter's memorandum of his

short illness and death :

" September 5th. 1801.
" On the 10th of August in the afternoon my father was seated at his
dining-room window sipping' his wine : composed, cheerful, and particularly
delighted with the scene of shipping and manceuvering of the pilot-boats,
etc., which was heightened by a beautiful sunset and the view of a bright
rainbow which extended over the bay. He called me to observe the differ-
ent colors of the sun on the clover field before the door, and repeatedly
exclaimed ; ' In my life I never saw anything so beautiful ! ' After tea I
played all his favorite music, and he sang two German hymns and the
' Soldier's Adieu ' with such earnestness and warmth of manner, that even
the servants observed how much more cheerful lie was than any evening this
summer before. At ten he went to his room, and the next morning when
breakfast was ready, his servant said he had been out since daylight and had
just returned home. He took his cup of tea in silence, which I was accus-
tomed to, and went to the wharf and to visit the surrounding buildings.
Shortly afterwards, he was sitting on a bench of the wharf, his head resting
on his hands, exposed to the hottest sun I have felt this summer, and looked
so distressed as to make me shed a flood of tears. The umbrella was sent
and when he came in, he said his ' legs gave way under him,' went to bed
and became immediately delirious. Young [Joseph] Bayley, who has been
one of his family for fourteen years and to whom he was exceedingly
attached, was with him and capable of executing every direction ; but
neither opium nor any other remedy could give him a moment's relief, nor
could he ever lie still without holding my hand. 'All the horrors are com-
ing, my child, I feel them all' ; this and other expressions and the charge
he gave me of his keys convinced me that he knew the worst from the
beginning. No remedy produced any change for the better, and the third
day he looked earnestly in my face and said : ' The hand of God is in it, all
will not do,' and repeatedly called, ' My Christ Jesus have mercy on me.'
He was in extreme pain until about half-past two Monday afternoon, the
17th, when he became perfectly easy, put his hand in mine and breathed the
last of life. He was taken in his barge to within half a mile of the grave-
yard of Richmond, where he was laid by his faithful boatman. Neither the
sexton nor any of the people dared approach. Mr. Moore* of the Island,
performed the service.

* This was Dr. Richard Channing Moore, who for twenty years officiated
on Staten Island. In 1814 he became Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in Virginia.

292 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

" ' In Memory of
DOCTOR RICHARD BAYLEY,

of New York,

Who after practicing the various branches of his profession

With unwearied diligence and high reputation

For thirty years in that city,

Projected a plan, and for five years conducted the

Operations of a Lazaretto on this Island.

Intelligent in devising and indefatigable in pursuing plans

Subservient to the cause of Humanity

He continued to guard the Public Health with

Persevering Industry.

And in the midst of dangers to perform with

Invincible fortitude the hazardous duties of Health Officer.

Until in the discharge of this important trust

He was seized with a Malignant Fever, to which he fell

A Lamentable Victim,

And thus terminated a life of great usefulness,

On the 17th August, 1801,

AGED 56 YEARS.'

" My father is buried on Staten Island, in Richmond church-yard, close
to the church on the east side. The above inscription is on a white marble
tablet raised a few feet from the ground. — E. A. S."

In September, 1803, William Seton, accompanied bv his
wife and eldest daughter, went on a voyage to Italy for his
health, which he hoped would be restored by the mild and
beneficial air of Pisa. Mrs. Seton kept an interesting Journal
during her absence, but as it has been published, I will say
no more, except that her husband died at Pisa on Tuesday
morning, December 27th.

(Elizabeth to Rebecca.)

" Leghorn, Jan. 3d. 1S04.
" My Dearest Rebecca, — I have been looking over the account of our
voyage which I had written you to the last day of the past year, and as it is
probable that Captain O'Brien will sail in a fortnight, and I may be with
you before that opportunity reaches Boston, and my letters get from there
to you, I think it best to take it to New York myself ; for if it is God's will
that I do not see you again, I would not wish that the melancholy scenes of
sorrow I have passed through should come to your knowledge. You will all
feel enough at hearing that our dear William is gone — gone stretching out

1804J LETTER TO REBECCA SETON. 293

his arms to the Saviour, rejoicing at the moment of his release. Our passage
here was as comfortable as we could expect ; but the thirty days passed in a
Lazaretto on the sea-shore, exposed to a succession of heavy storms very
unusual to this climate, and in a large room always cold and filled with
smoke, added to the confinement, and the regulation of not allowing even a
physician to feel his pulse (for whoever touched or came within some yards
of us were subject to the same quarantine), was more than he could bear.
And eventually, after having been many nights bolted in with the assurance
that he would die before morning, he was carried out and put in a coach
that took us to Pisa, a ride of fifteen miles, which, with pillows, cordials,
etc., he bore much better than we expected. Two days before Christmas he
was confined to his room with the last symptoms of consumption. He
found no comfort but in having his door shut and me on my knees by his
bedside, night and day, to help him in his prayers. Christmas day he con-
tinually reminded himself of his Redeemer's birth, and hoped so much that
he might be called that day. At about twelve o'clock of Monday night the
agony came on, and he bid me close the door and darken still more the
room. I did so, and remained on my knees holding his cold hands and
praying for him till a quarter past seven, when his dear soul departed gently
from the mortal frame without a struggle. I heard him repeatedly follow
my prayers, and when I ceased a moment, continued saying, ' My Christ
Jesus, have mercy,' and told me to tell all his dear friends not to weep for
him, that he died happy and satisfied with the Divine Will. After he was
dead I brought little Anna into the room to pray with me by his side. The
terror of his complaint (which they here look upon with as much dread as
we do the yellow fever) wras great in the house, but his body was at once
conveyed to Leghorn, where he was buried in the Protestant cemetery, with
the attendance of our clergyman, the consul, and the Americans and English
of the place.

" Here I anxiously wait, my dear sister, for the day of sailing. The
Filicchis do all they can to ease my situation, and seem, indeed, as though
they could not do enough. From the day we left home we have met with
nothing but kindness, even in strangers. My husband's sufferings and
death have interested so many persons here, that I am as kindly treated and
as much attended to as if I were in New York. Indeed, when I look for-
ward to my unprovided situation, as it relates to the affairs of this life, I am
the more touched by their tenderness. Anna says, ' Oh, mama ! hew many
friends God has provided for us in this strange land, for they are our friends
before they know us.' But for all this, these three months have been a hard
lesson — pray for me that I may profit by it. Richard is at Cadiz, and I
believe does not know of our being here, as he has performed a long quar-
antine in consequence of his having been at Malaga while the plague
was there.

' Tell my dear friend, Mr. Hobart, that I do not write because the
opportunity is unexpected, but that I have a long letter 1 commenced on

294 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1821

board of ship to him, and that I am hard pushed by these charitable
Romans, who wish that so much goodness should be improved by a con-
version (I once overheard, ' if she were not a heretic she would be a saint ! '),
which, to effect, they have even taken the trouble to bring me their best-
informed priest, Abbe Plunket, who is an Irishman. But they find me so
willing to listen to their enlightened conversation, and learned people liking
best to hear themselves, I have but little to say, and, as yet, keep friends
with all as the best comment on my religion. I think I may hope to be with
you on Ash-Wednesday, not within God's house, but in spirit."

William Seton's modest tomb is next to Smollett's. I have
given a picture of the cemetery which my father brought from
Leghorn sixty years ago. While in Italy, Mrs. Seton and
Anna were much befriended by a noble and exemplary Cath-
olic family named Filicchi. Chevalier Philip Filicchi had
travelled in the United States in 1785—86, and become a
friend and correspondent of William Seton (1), who had suc-
cessfully made interest to have him appointed the first Ameri-
can Consul-General to Tuscany and neighboring parts.

Doubts and prejudices were gradually dispelled from Mrs.
Seton's mind, and after returning to New York in June,
1804, she and her children were received into the Catholic
Church on March 14, 1805, after a severe struggle with her-
self, and after encountering the most intense opposition of her
family and friends. She was compelled by their scornful
behavior to leave the city and retire to Baltimore in an almost
destitute condition. Her godmother, a rich and childless
widow, Mrs. Startin, who had made her will in her favor, de-
stroyed it when Elizabeth became a Catholic, and left her large
fortune to another. In 1809 Mrs. Seton and companions,
including two sisters-in-law, Henrietta and Cecilia, removed
to Emmittsburg, in Frederick County, Maryland, and there
founded, at Saint Joseph's, the first house of the Sisters of
Charity in the United States. Mrs. Seton died on January 4,
1 82 1. Her dream had come true. " 8th November, 1803.
In Gibraltar Bay — A Dream. Was climbing with great diffi-
culty a mountain of immense height and blackness, and when

1770] JAMES SETON. 295,

near the top, almost exhausted, a voice said : ' Never mind,
take courage, there is a beautiful green hill on the other side,
and on it an Angel waits for you : ' "

Through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of
God (Acts xiv.).

Her Life has been admirably written by the late Rev. Dr.
White, who made it one of the most interesting and edifying
works in the Catholic literature of America. It has gone
through several editions, and continues in constant demand.*

William Seton left five children at his death :

William, ^|

Richard,

Anna-Maria, \ of whom hereafter.

Rebecca,

Catharine, J

Other children of William Seton (1) :

I. James Seton. Born in New York, 28th August, 1770.
One of his sponsors in baptism was James Seton, of Edin-
burgh, for whom he was named. His father obtained for him
a commission as Ensign in the English Army early in 1782.
He was then sent off to England and placed at school in Rich-
mond— an old letter speaks of General Sir Henry Clinton and
Colonel Crosby having been to see him there, and how well
thev treated the little man — and on September 2, 1782, he
had already drawn £^\ of his pay. Through the influence
of Lord Percy, an old friend of hers, Mrs. (John) Seton
obtained for him a long leave of absence from his regiment
— the Seventy-fourth — then at Halifax, Nova Scotia, under
Colonel John Campbell, so that he might continue his
studies. He returned to New York in a few years and en-
joyed himself in society, where he was very much liked,

* Her life has also been written in French by Mme. de Barberey, with
the title, Elizabeth Seton et les Commencements de P E^lise Catholiquc aux
Etats- Unis. It has been translated into German and Italian.

296

AN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d.

JAMES SETON, OF NEW YORK.

being remarkably handsome and intelligent. A letter from
Joseph Hadfield, an Army agent, dated London, 9th June,
1795, says: "You are a lieutenant on full pay from the
beginning of September last, and are entitled to lieutenant's
half-pay on the reduction of the corps." Such a military
system has fortunately long passed away. James continued,
as I see by receipts, to draw his money from England for

1830] ALFRED SETON. 297

many years. Finally he resigned from the service and
renounced his allegiance, becoming a citizen of the United
States. At the beginning of the War of 18 12 he was offered
the rank of Major and a position on the staff of General Van
Rensselaer, who commanded the New York Militia, and who
wrote to him rather foolishly (in view of subsequent events):
' ' We shall make a figure before Niagara on horseback ! '

He married, March 20, 1792, Mary Gillon Hoffman,
daughter of Nicholas Hoffman, of New York, and Sarah
Ogden, and had issue. Mary Hoffman was descended from
Martinus Hoffman — born 1640, died 1671 — who emigrated
from Sweden to America, and settled at Shawangunk, an
Indian locality in Ulster County, New York, which was
afterward called Hoftmantown. He was armigerous, and
founded a well-known old American family, which has made
good alliances and given some distinguished public men to
the State. James Seton was prominent in society. His por-
trait is among the gentlemen in the water-color painting (now
in the New York Historical Society) of the " Interior of Park
Theatre, November 7, 1822." It is of exceptional interest
for the social life of New York, seventy-five years ago. He
had one son and four daughters, of whom the three youngest
died unmarried. Alfred Seton, his son, was of an ardent and
adventurous spirit. In speaking of an association formed in
New York about 1830, to assist in an expedition to the Far
West, Washington Irving, in the Introductory Notice to his
interesting Adventures of Captain Bonneville, says :

" One of the most efficient persons in this association was Mr. Alfred
Seton, who, when quite a youth, had accompanied one of the expeditions
sent out by Mr. Astor to his commercial establishments on the Columbia,
and had distinguished himself by his activity and courage at one of the
interior posts. Mr. Seton was one of the American youths who were at
Astoria at the time of its surrender to the British, and who manifested such
grief and indignation at seeing the flag of their country hauled down. The
hope of seeing that flag once more planted on the shores of the Columbia,
may have entered into his motives for engaging in the present enterprise.'1

298 AN OLD FAMILY.

Alfred Seton married Frances Barnewall, of a fine old family.
I remember him well forty years ago, when he lived on his
beautiful place at Westchester. His grandson and namesake
is Alfred Seton of New York and Tuxedo, who married Mary
Louise Barbey, daughter of Henry Barbey and Mary Loril-
lard, and has issue. His granddaughter, Laura Seton, mar-
ried a Prussian officer and gentleman, Von Kettler, and has
issue. She died in Germany in 1898.

Mary Seton, daughter of James Seton and sister of Al-
fred (1), married Henry Ogden, Esq., of New York, and had
issue.

II. Samuel-Waddington Seton. He was born in the city
of New York, January 23, 1789. His godfather and sponsor
in baptism was Joshua Waddington, one of the Directors of
the Bank. After receiving a good education he made a voy-
age to China as supercargo in 1807. He was engaged to be
married to a virtuous and beautiful young woman, only daugh-
ter of a clergyman ; but when he returned after an absence of
two years, he was told she was dying. He hastened to the
house, which was at a considerable distance from New York,
travelling all night on horseback, and was married at her bed-
side next morning. As he said to me, sixty years afterward :
ii We were spiritually wed on earth — I kissed her chaste lips
once — she died that afternoon — we shall meet in Heaven."
He was a very handsome and courtly gentleman and much
sought after; but he mixed no more in society, dressed like
a Minister, and continued faithful to his first and only love:

For when a soul to soul is truly wed
There is no ending of the honey-moon.

— Seton : The Pio/ieer.

Samuel Seton became prominently connected with public
education, and " his peculiar tact and skill in management,
as well as felicity and beauty of illustration in his addresses,
made him very popular, and pointed him out as peculiarly

? /fry oy&^*?

a.d. 1789] SAMUEL SETON. 301

fitted for the position of Agent and Superintendent of Public
Schools in New York City." His philanthropic zeal was
not confined to the schools, but extended to all the poor and
helpless within his reach. He was a fertile and a tasteful
writer, both in prose and verse, mostly for the young. u He
was also," says another obituary notice, " singularly effective
in his addresses to the young, mingling information impressed
with the quaintest and most humorous of illustrations with
passages of the most touching pathos. His dying request
breathed the spirit which had pervaded his life of over four-
score years, ' Bury me among the children,' and accordingly
his grave was made in the centre of the children's plot in
Greenwood Cemetery, over which a monument was erected
by the Public School teachers of the city." The portrait I
give is one taken in his seventy-fifth year, and engraved in
Bourne's History of the Public School Society of the City of New
York, and is a good likeness. He died on November 20,
1869. He left me at his death an elegant Louis Quinze
writing-desk, which had been imported by his father a century
before, a statuette of Benjamin Franklin, and a copv of the
first Catholic Bible published in the United States (1790).

He had this peculiarity, that he read a chapter of the Scrip-
tures every morning, first from the Protestant and then the
same from the Catholic version.

III. Edward-Augustus Seton. He was born in Han-
over Square, New York, on 25th April, 1790, and became a
great favorite in society, because (as a very old lady once de-
scribed him) he was so aristocratic-looking. Like many other
adventurous young Americans, he went to the great Southwest
Territory to settle. Married rather late in life, at Opelousas,
Louisiana, and had an only son, a Lieutenant in the Con-
federate Army, who was killed in battle before Richmond in
1862.

When a young man of twenty he went to visit Mrs. Seton

302 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1779

at Emmittsburg, and made a large water-color sketch of the
Sisterhood as it appeared in 18 10. On his return to New
York, he copied it carefully in oil. The sketch and painting
came into my possession from my Aunt Catharine, to whom
he gave them; but the latter, which was a finished produc-
tion, was accidentally destroyed by fire some years ago. A
steel engraving had fortunately been made of it. Edward-
Augustus Seton had considerable talent for drawing and paint-
ing. He was a great reader and much given to study.

IV. Elizabeth Seton. Born in New York, 7th April,
1779. She grew up as all her sisters, very handsome, and
was her father's favorite daughter. He had a copy made by
Gilbert Stuart himself of the original portrait painted for his
eldest son, and gave it to her on her marriage in Trinity
Church, New York, in 1797, to James Maitland, Esq., a
gentleman of an ancient and noble Scotch family, which had
alreadv in past ages been connected with the Setons. There
were five children of this marriage, of whom :

1. William Seton Maitland, a Captain in the U. S. Army,
was lost at sea while returning from Florida, where he had
been engaged in the Seminole War (1836). A lake discov-
ered by him in (Orange County) Florida now bears his name.
He died unmarried.

2. Benjamin Maitland, married Frances Latham, of an old
English family, and had issue, twelve children.

3. Rebecca Seton Maitland, married Benjamin Porter, Esq.,
and left issue, Hon. Robert Hobart Porter, who for many
years was President of the Board of Charities and Correc-
tions of the citv of New York. He married Annie Metcalfe
Dwight. Their children are: (1) Henry Hobart Porter, Jr.,
who married Catharine Porter, of Boston, and has Dorothy
Dwight Porter and Margaret Seton Porter; (2) Francis Dwight
Porter; (3) Seton Porter.

V. Charlotte Seton. Born in New York, May 1,

A.D. 1640]

THE OGDENS.

305

1786. Married Gouverneur Ogden, Esq. The founders of
this family were two brothers, John and Richard Ogden, who
emigrated from England to this country in 1640. Their
descendants have been prominent here in politics, in com-

MARGARET SETUN PORTER.

merce, and in the learned professions. Gouverneur Ogden
was sixth in descent from the original John Ogden. He
studied law, and became a partner of Alexander Hamilton.
Having with his brothers purchased an extensive tract of land
— sixty thousand acres — in Northern New York, they went
there with their family in 1807. The property was at that
time mostly a wilderness in Saint Lawrence County, abound-
20

306 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1780

ing in game and wild Indians. The now large and important
city of Ogdensburg was named for them. Gouverneur Ogden
erected a fine mansion on the river. It was accidentally
burned down in 1840, but the ruins show what was the size
and imposing aspect of this old landmark. Gouverneur Ogden
died in 1850, and his wife in 1852. They are buried in
Oakwood Cemetery, at Troy, New York, leaving numerous
descendants, of whom Mary Seton Ogden married George
Usborne, Esq., whose eldest son, Captain George Usborne,
of the Roval Navy, is now Harbor Master at Oueenstown,
Ireland; Henry Vining Ogden, Esq., married Caroline Briggs,
and has issue: Henry Vining Ogden, Jr., M.D., of Milwau-
kee, Wisconsin ; and two daughters. Gertrude Gouverneur
Ogden married John Gordon, Esq., of the Lochinvar or
Kenmure branch of this great Scotch family, which is of the
Seton blood centuries ago, although retaining the old Clan
name. Their children are Thomas Gordon, unmarried;
George Ogden Gordon, married Alice Bradford, a lineal
descendant of William Bradford, first Governor of Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony, has no issue; John Gordon, married
(1855) Rosalie, daughter of Colonel Murray, of the Royal
Engineers, and has issue two daughters ; William Seton
Gordon, of New York City, married, 1880, Mary Roebuck,
niece of the Right Honorable John Arthur Roebuck, M.P.,
and has four daughters.

VI. Rebecca Seton. She was born in New York on
December 20, 1780. Was baptized by Rev. Dr. Benjamin
Moore, who was then an assistant minister of Trinity Church.
In a Memorandum of Mr. Seton's about his children, he is
careful to state the fact of their being baptized, and to say by
whom. Rebecca was of a sincerely religious turn of mind, and
entered into all the pious thoughts and practices of her sister-
in-law, Mrs. Seton. The letters that passed between them are
many and beautiful. The Journal, which I have already men-

A.D. 1787] HENRIETTA SETON. 309

tioned, was written by Elizabeth Seton for Rebecca, and was
meant to be kept private. It was surreptitiously printed in
1 8 17 by an Episcopal minister at Elizabethtown, New Jersey,
to whom it had been lent. He gave it the title of Memoirs
of Mrs. S . . . Written by Herself. A Fragment of Real
History.

Rebecca died of consumption on Julv 8, 1804, shortly after
the return of Mrs. Seton, who savs, in a Memorandum ot her
death, that a few moments before she died: "We spoke a
little of our tender and faithful love for each other, and ear-
nestly begged that this, begun in Christ on earth, might be
perfected by Him in Heaven"; and two years afterward,
when Mrs. Seton was a Catholic and at Emmittsburg, she
wrote in what she called her Dear Remembrances about her
return to New York from Italy, and says :

"A thousand pages could not tell the sweet hours now with my departing
Rebecca. The wonder at the few lines I could point out (in her continually
fainting and exhausted condition) of the true Faith and service of our Lord.
She could only repeat : ' Your people are my people, your God my God' ;
and every day my delight to see her eagerness to read our spiritual Mass
together until the Sunday morning of our last Te Deum, at the sight of the
glorious purple clouds in which the sun was rising, and her tender thanks-
giving that we had known and loved each other so closely here, to be
reunited a moment after in our dear Eternity."

VII. Henrietta, better known as Harriet Seton. She
was born in New York on December 27, 1787, baptized
by Rev. Mr. Moore. She grew up exceedingly beautiful,

and was engaged to be married to (whose name I

prefer not to give) ; but accompanying her sister Cecilia to
Baltimore in April, 1809, who was to join Mrs. Seton, she
also remained there and journeyed to Emmittsburg with the
party that went to found Saint Joseph's Sisterhood. Her
prolonged visit, and the fear that she, too, would turn Catholic,

made break their engagement. Henrietta has left a

Memorandum in her own handwriting, which says: u I formed

310 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

my first resolution of becoming a Catholic on the 2 2d of July,
Saint Mary Magdalene's day, in the little chapel on Saint
Mary's Mountain. On that day the pastor of two happy
souls I was ardently attached to, offered up the Divine Sacri-
fice of the Mass for my conversion.

u September 2j.th. Day of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Received my First Communion. On the same day made a
renewal of my baptismal vows, and was entered in the Sodal-
ity of the Sacred Heart. Hour of adoration, seven o'clock in
the morning. On Tuesday, the 25th, made my second Com-
munion, and was entered in the Sodality of the Rosary of the
Blessed Virgin Mary." Mrs. Seton briefly completes the
narrative in her Dear Remembrances :

" Harriet's last communion on the Feast of the Expectation, 18th. Dec.
1809, 'All peace and love,' she said ; ' Hear the beating of His heart in the
garden of Gethsemane. See how they scourge Him ! Oh, my Jesus, I suffer
with Thee. Why will they not bring Him to me? My Jesus, Thou knowest
that I believe in Thee, I hope in Thee, I love Thee.' "

She died on December 23, 1809, and was buried under the
spreading branches of an oak-tree, a few hundred yards from
the Community house and school, in ground which had been
chosen for a graveyard. She would, doubtless, have joined
the Sisters had she lived, and the blessed inmates of Saint
Joseph's have always considered her one of their own.

VIII. Cecilia Seton. u Born the 9th August 1791 in
Hanover Square, New York, baptized the 3rd Sept. 1791, by
the Rev'd. Dr. Moore, sponsors — Louis Simond, Anna-Maria
Vining and Mrs. Wilkes, wife of Israel Wilkes." *

Cecilia grew up a lovely child; and, as the youngest, she
was the pet of the family. Her mother died when she was
only a year old, but two years later she found a second mother
in her brother William's wife. The first of the many notes
and letters which I have found passing between Mrs. Seton
and her sister is this one:

* William Seton's Family Memorandum .

1791-1810] CECILIA SETON. 31 1

(To Cecilia Seton.)

" 19th. Nov. 1802.

" Let your chief study be to acquaint yourself with God, because there is
nothing greater than God ; and because knowledge of Him is the only one
which can fill the heart with a peace and joy that nothing can disturb."

When William Seton went to Italy, never to return, his
little sister Cecilia was taken into the family of his next
brother, James Seton. Rebecca Seton, when dying, had
recommended her with special tenderness to Elizabeth, who
says, in a letter to her of October 8, 1805: "You are to
me my dearest child. I never attempt it or can express the
sentiment of tenderest love that lies in my heart for you."
She is described at fourteen as one whose attractive face and
form added graceful charms to a most sweet disposition.
Even at this age, from what she had read, she often ex-
pressed u the amiable and pious wish of living one day in a
Convent." In January, 1806, she was taken with pneu-
monia, and during her illness was constantly visited by Eliza-
beth, to whom she confided her wish to become " a member
of the Church." There exists a beautiful letter from the
Rev. Mr. (afterward Bishop and Cardinal) de Cheverus on
the subject, written from Boston to Mrs. Seton, who had
evidently consulted him as to her own line of conduct.
Cecilia recovered from her illness, and was publicly received
into the Catholic Church on the 20th of June, 1806. It is
needless to say that she suffered very bitter opposition from
her family, nor will I expose again the cruel letters that were
written to her on that occasion and afterward. She never
fully recovered from her illness, and her health declining, in
1809 it was decided, after many entreaties, to let her join
Mrs. Seton at Baltimore, and with the rest of the party she
went to Emmittsburg. She expired, the first Sister of the
new Community to die, on the 29th April, 1810.

Mrs. Seton, writing of her death to a friend, says: "A

312 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1760

happier, more consoling departure than she took you cannot
imagine. She was innocence and peace itself. The sisters
lie in a wood inclosed, hard by our dwelling. Every day the
hands of affection and love do something to adorn the sacred
solitude"; and in Dear Remembrances: "Cecilia's gentle
death the 29th of April, 18 10. Her burial. The children
gathering wild flowers."

Descendants of Andrew and Margaret Seton.

Andrew Seton, Esq., of the branch called Seton of Barnes,
married in England, in 1760, Margaret, daughter of John and
Elizabeth Seton, of whom above. They came to this country
in 1773, settling first at Brook Haven, Long Island, afterward
in Brooklyn. They and their children are very frequently

mentioned by Mrs. Seton
in her letters to her son
William at New York.
Andrew was a Lovalist
during the Revolution,
and a party of armed pa-
triots crossed the Sound
in whaleboats from Con-
necticut one stormy night
in 1776, and sacked and
burned his house, and
drove his wife and chil-
dren barbarously out into
the snow and cold, where
they nearly perished.
They would have mur-
dered Andrew if they had
found him at home. It

MARGARET SETON, WIFE OF ANDREW

seton 1807. was after this that he

1 794] ANDREW SETON. 313

removed for safety to Brooklyn. At the end of the war he
went with his family to Florida, and died in 1794. Margaret
died there in 1818, aged eighty, and is buried beside her
husband in the old cemetery at Fernandina. Thev had a large
family of children, of whom Peter, the eldest, is often men-
tioned in our family letters, and always as a gallant young
fellow and a general favorite. He was a Lieutenant in
the Royal Navy, but found it hard to get along on his pay ;
was on some admiral's flagship, u which put him to a
great expense"; was in a hot engagement with the French,
but came out unwounded; wanted to go to the East Indies;
visited his relatives in London :

" Peter has been in London some time and seems very well pleased with
his situation. He forwarded me a parcel from his mother containing a very
pretty worked handkerchief, done by her daughter Isabella, for which tell
her I am much obliged tho' sorry she put herself to the expense. I wrote to
her and sent Andrew's miniature to Peter's care, so that she will no doubt
receive it. Her letter was dated last October." *

On February 7, 1795, Mrs. Seton writes to her son:

" My sister Robertson .... sent me a letter she had from Peter
Seton, dated Madras Roads, 24th July, 1794. He writes in very good
spirits, and they were going upon an expedition against the Mauritius,
where he expects to have his share of plunder, for he has no doubt of
success."

Peter died soon after this at the Cape of Good Hope, and
the last mention of him in Mrs. Seton' s letters is to say that
his servant had rifled his effects and made off" with all that he
could carry.

Mary Seton married John Wilkes, of New York, and left
issue. One of her sons was the late Admiral Charles Wilkes,
who is remembered as the Commander of the United States
Exploring Expedition.

Isabella Setont married Robert Henry, of Albany, New
York, and had a large family. Their distinguished son was

* From Mrs. Seton to William, in New York, February 27, 1791.

314 AN OLD FA MILT. [a.d.

the Hon. Charles Seton Henry, born November 29, 1799.
He went South in 1820, and joined the Savannah Bar. He
became a Judge of the Supreme Court and President of the
Georgia Historical Society. Died in 1864.

Charlotte Seton married John Vernor Henry, of Albany,
New York. One of her grandsons is Guy Henry, U.S.A.
This distinguished soldier was a general officer in the Civil
War, afterward a great Indian lighter, and is now a Brigadier-
General in the Regular Army, a Major-General of United
States Volunteers, and has been Military Governor of Porto
Rico. He married, first, Frances Wharton, of Philadelphia
(sister of Mrs. Lucy Wharton Drexel, of New York), and
has a son, Thomas Lloyd Henry, and a daughter, Sarah, who
married Lieutenant James Benton, U.S.A., and has a son,
James Webb Benton. General Henry married, secondly, Julia
McNair, and has two sons : Guy Vernor Henry, Lieutenant
U.S.A., and William Seton Henry.

William Dalrymple Seton, born in 1774, was a bold
and enterprising young man. He followed the sea in the
merchant marine, and on one occasion fought his ship so
well against a French privateer that he was given a handsome
silver punch-bowl, bearing the following inscription: " Pre-
sented by the President and Directors of the New York Insur-
ance Company, to Capt. Wm. D. Seton, as a testimonial of
the high sense which they entertain of his gallant conduct in
defending his ship, the Northern Liberties, against the French
Privateer, Malantic, of superior force, in the Bay of Bengal,
13th December 1799." On the bowl were also engraved
the Seton arms and a picture of the fight. He perished on
his ship the Marlon, which foundered in mid-ocean in 1804,
going from New York to Leghorn. Was never married.

Charles Seton, born in Brooklyn in 1776. As a
boy he was cared for by his uncle, William Seton, of New
York, and early manifested intellectual and social abilities,

1776]

CHARLES SETON.

3*5

combined with a love of travel and adventure. At an early
age he went as supercargo to the Cape of Good Hope, and on
his return to America, by way of Europe, visited Paris and
London, where he met his cousins, the Berrys. His miniature
was painted in Paris
in 181 1. Speaking
Spanish fluently, he
went into the lumber
business at Fernan-
dina, Florida, where
he built a large house
and lived with his
mother, whom he ten-
derly loved and cared
for. He was a man
of ability and force of
character. In 1813
he took an active and
prominent part in re-
pelling an attack on
the town by a large
body of organized fili-
busters from Georgia,
who were successfully
beaten off, but Mr.
Seton received a ball
in his body which he
carried until his death
at Fernandina in 1 836.

" He was a man much loved and respected by all who knew
him." He married, in 181 2, Matilda, daughter of George
Sibbald, of Philadelphia, of the Sibbalds of Balgonie, in Fife-
shire, Scotland. They had two sons and four daughters, of
whom only one son and one daughter left issue.

CHARLES SETON, SON OF ANDREW AND MAR-
GARET SETON, l8l I.

316 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

George Seton, son of Charles Seton and Matilda Sibbald,
born December 2, 1817. He was a decidedly handsome
man, and popular. He was purser for several years before
the Civil War on a steamer plying between Charleston, South
Carolina, and the Saint John's River, Florida. Married his
cousin, Caroline Sibbald. During the war was a Captain in
the Quartermaster's Department of the Confederate Army.
After the war he purchased property at Sharptown, Wicomico
County, Maryland, and died leaving a son and daughter. His
widow lives on the estate with her children :

1. Charles Fraser Seton, representative of Andrew and
Margaret Seton, who puts forth some claim to be the rightful
heir to the Earldom of Dunfermline.

2. Mary (May) Isabel Seton.

Margaret Seton, daughter of Charles Seton and Matilda
Sibbald, married Colonel Lewis Fleming, of Hibernia, Florida,
whose father, George Fleming, came out from Ireland in 1785,
and got a grant of land from the Government. * He married,
in 1 79 1, Sophia, daughter of Francis Philip Fatio, who had
settled in Florida in 177 1. A sketch of this lady's familv
was published by the late Mrs. Susan L'Engle, who was con-
nected with it, and who says : ' ' The Fatio family was orig-
inally from Palermo, in Sicily, but becoming involved in the

* The founder of the noble and ancient family of Fleming, which rose
to great distinction in Great Britain, and long enjoyed peerages in Scotland
and in Ireland, was Archambauld, a knight of Flanders — hence surnamed
Le Fleming — who went with the Conqueror to England and was rewarded
for his services by several manors in Devonshire and Cornwall, of which he
is found possessed in 1087. One of his descendants attended Henry II. in
the invasion of Ireland and obtained several lordships there. From him
came the Barons Slane, one of whom, Christopher Fleming, was created
Viscount Longford in 17 13.

The Scotch Flemings held the lands of Biggar and Cumbernauld.
Sir Robert Fleming, lineally descended from the original settler in Scot-
land, was created a peer of Parliament as Baron Fleming in the fif-
teenth century, and in 1606 John, sixth Lord Fleming, was made Fail
of Wigton.

1785] THE FLEMINGS OF FLORIDA. 317

civil discords of that country, they removed to Milan and
Venice, in Italy, and finally to Switzerland. The name has
varied in its spelling. I find it sometimes written Facio,
sometimes Faccio, and sometimes Fazio; but, later, the
present spelling Fatlo was adopted very generally."

The children of Colonel Lewis Fleming and Margaret Seton
were numerous. I will mention only two.

1. Charles Seton Fleming was born at the Panama
Steam Sawmills, of which his father had charge as Agent and
Manager for the owners, on the Saint John's River, in Duval
County, Florida, on the 9th of February, 1839. He was a
valiant young officer, and was killed in Virginia during the
Wilderness campaign, June 3, 1864, while in command of
his decimated regiment. He died unmarried. An interesting
Memoir of Captain Charles Seton Fleming, of the Second
Florida Infantry, C.S.A., was published at Jacksonville,
Florida, in 1884. On June 3, 1893, ms remains were
removed from the battlefield where he fell to Hollywood
Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, and rest with unsullied honor
among many thousand heroes of the doomed Confederacy.

2. Hon. Francis Philip Fleming. When a young man
he served in the Civil War as First Lieutenant in the First
Florida Cavalry, C.S.A. After the war studied law and
became an eminent member of the Bar. Was Governor of
his State from January, 1889, to January, 1893. Married,
May 23, 1871, Floride Lydia Pearson, daughter of the Hon.
Byrd Pearson, a native of South Carolina and a prominent
member of the Florida Bar. Was a Justice of the Supreme
Court of that State. Her mother was Elizabeth Legere Croft,
of South Carolina. The children of this marriage now living
are :

Francis Philip Fleming, Jr., born January 23, 1874. Is
very handsome and intelligent, and a partner in his father's
law firm.

318 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1795

Charles Seton Fleming, born August 24, 1875.

Elizabeth Legere Fleming, born November 5, 1881.

Charles Seton Fleming was educated at the famous Virginia
Military Institute, and promptly responded to the President's
call for troops at the outbreak of the late war with Spain.
Was an officer in the First Florida Volunteer Infantry. He
is a young gentleman of promise.

Children of William Seton and Elizabeth Bay ley.

Anna Maria Seton. She was born in New York on 3d
of May, 1795, the eldest child of this marriage.

The first letter of Mrs. Seton to her daughter is dated 3d
May, 1803, Anna's eighth birthday, and was accompanied by
a manuscript book of extracts. It is worthy of all praise.

" 3rd May, 1803.

" My Dear Daughter, — This book was begun when I was fifteen, and
written with great delight to please my father. Since I have been a mother,
the idea of continuing it for my children's instruction and amusement, as
well as to give them an example of a good means of adding to the pleasures
of study and assisting the memory, has been one of my favorite fancies ; but
fancy only it is, for in pursuing that train of reading which would afford
extracts for the book, I find the soul unsatisfied and turning with anxiety
to those subjects you will find fully dwelt on in your largest book. Works
of imagination, and even the wonderful productions of science, carry the
thoughts but to certain confines ; those indeed that examine the beauti-
ful orders of creation are more suited to fill the mind that is making
acquaintance with their great Author. But when the acquaintance is
already made, the soul filled with this immensity and only separated by the
wall of partition is fully busied in guarding against surrounding danger or
in searching all the strengthening means this world affords, where alone it
finds its refuge. In short, the portion of time the mother and mistress of a
family can afford for reading is so precious, that she finds the necessity of
dwelling on ' the needful,' and I must leave to you, my love, to finish what
I have begun. And recollect, as a mother's entreaty, that you give some
time in every day — if it is only half an hour — to devotional reading, which
is as necessary to the well ordering of the mind as the hand of the gardener
is to prevent the weeds destroying your favorite flowers."

l8o6J ANNA-MARIA SEl^ON. 319

Anna Maria accompanied her parents to Italy, as I have
elsewhere said, and is often mentioned in Mrs. Seton's Jour-
nal. The only thing I possess of my dear and pious young
aunt, whom I never saw, are a few notes in her handwriting,
a lock of her hair, and an image of Our Lord kneeling in the
Garden with the emblems of the Passion around Him, painted
on a small slab of alabaster and given to her by one of the
Filicchi children at Pisa. She was ever after known in the
family as Annina, the Italian diminutive of Anna. She was
received into the Church with her mother, and made her first
Communion in Saint Peter's, New York, on the feast of her
patron saint, July 26, 1806, and was confirmed at Saint
Joseph's (Emmittsburg) on 20th October, 1809, by the Right
Rev. Bishop Carroll. Annina was of a sweet and tender dis-
position, singularly pious and devout, and beloved by all who
knew her. She was on a visit staying with some friends in
Baltimore in January, 18 10, and from there wrote the follow-
ing letter, which breathes all her pure and affectionate heart :

" To the Dearest of Mothers : Union in Eternity with Him.

"My Most Precious Mother, — No letter! well, my Jesus, Thy will be
done. O my mother, my dear mother, what shall I say ? all uncertainty.
I know not what to think ; but, O my mother, pray, do pray for that dear
soul. I can not tell you how much I loved her ; she is as it were the sub-
ject of all my prayers and sighs.* Oh, how much I love you ! You are my
dearest, and soul's dearest mother. I have a question to propose to my
mother, and you alone shall decide. The girls are going to have an Exhibi-
tion, and they wish me very much to be in it ; but I do not wish to have any
part in it. They begged me very much, and still I refused. Well, they
begged me again. At last I said : Well, whatever mother says. Do not
you think I had better not act? but whatever you say. Most precious,
dear mother ! it has been a long time since I have received a little word from
my mother. If you can, do write me a little word and tell me your opinion.
" Your ever-loving and affectionate child,

"Anna-Maria."

On her return to Saint Joseph's Anna caught a cold, which

ended in rapid consumption. Her mother kept a journal of

* Her aunt, Henrietta Seton, then recently dead.

^20 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

her last illness and death, which is very touching, ending with

these words, which may not be understood by all, for they

belong to " the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven," which

God has hidden " from the wise and prudent," and revealed

to " little ones " :

"After Mass how many, many most fervent acts and aspirations to Jesus !
what cheerfulness of her dying countenance ! how sweetly she applied her
now speechless mouth to the crucifix ! what a cry of joy to all around her !
amidst so many precious signs I will ever remember this act of gratitude and
thanks to Jesus ; — the arms stretched forward to Heaven with inexpressible
energy and a look piercing even to Him on high, and an effort of the lips to
cry and express — what is known only in Eternity. Oh, mother, mother,
give a thousand thanks all your life — every day of this life, until you meet
with her again."

Anna died, after receiving the habit as a Sister of Charity,
on March 12, 18 12, in her sixteenth year.

The Dear Remembrances end with Annina's death: " The
last clasp of her hands and look to Heaven, when she was
asked if she was not grateful for the goodness of our Lord to
her?"

Rebecca Seton. She was born in New York on July 20,
1802. The youngest child of the family.

She made her first Communion at Saint Joseph's on Christ-
mas Day, 18 1 2. When between ten and eleven years old,
she fell one day on the ice where she was playing, and was
picked up a cripple for life. In the month of October, 18 15,
she was sent to Philadelphia to be under the treatment of an
eminent surgeon; and although some of her mother's friends
asked to have her with them, she begged to stay with the
Sisters at the Orphan Ayslum, because " it reminded her of
Saint Joseph's." The following letter to her mother, coming
from a child of thirteen, is remarkably well written, and

reveals her simple little heart :

" Orphan Asylum.

"As I soon expect to hear of an opportunity, I must write to my own
mother to tell her with what joy I think of the day I shall once more be in

1802] REBECCA SETON. 321

her arms. I am sometimes almost lost in thought, and am as overjoyed as
if I were actually with you ; but I hope to see my thought soon come true.
Oh, my mother, what a day that will be : my heart gets too full when I
think of it. I must tell you, to comfort you, how much better I am than I
was. I have been to 'Aunt ' Scott's twice ; she took me riding in her car-
riage— I do not know how far — to the Museum, the Bank of Pennsylvania,
Bank of the United States, the Water-works, and I do not know where else ;
but what was better than all, Sister Rose took me to the Poor-House. You
must know what a coward I am, as you have experienced me. I do not dare
to think of my own sufferings after having seen theirs ; though Sister Rose
tells me I have seen but the least part of them. There is one poor woman
up in the incurable ward named Peggy (ask Sister Susan, she will tell you
whom I mean) ; she told Sister Rose : ' Sister Rosy, I forgot to tell Mr.
Roloff the main thing yesterday.' ' Well, what was it ? ' 'That I had no
tobacco ' (speaking softly). However, I had happily just spent nineteen
cents in getting tobacco and snuff to carry with me. But I wanted very
much to get out of the place, for as we were going up-stairs we met a person
who behaved very cross to us, which made me very much afraid for fear we
should meet with another one. When we got out, believe me, my own
mother, I really felt as if I were in Paradise. There was another poor
creature there who had three holes burnt with caustic in her side. She said
that during the time it was burning her, she could think of nothing but the
Wounds of our Jesus, and actually did not feel the pain of it. I also saw
old ' Queen ' Agnes, just woke out of a sleep, and quite loaded with old watch-
seals, and beads, and chains, and I do not know what all. Sister Rose told
her there was a great many people died nowadays. In great surprise she
said, opening her eyes wide, 'Has any died to-day?' 'No.' Then Sister
Rose says, 'Agnes, are you afraid of death ? ' ' No.' ' But would you like to
die?' ' No, that I wouldn't : I think it a terrible thing that a body must be
put in a pit. I am afraid they would put me in alive.' ' Oh, but Agnes, you
know that does not hurt the soul.' ' I don't know.' Then Sister Rose said,
'Agnes, this little girl's mother knew you when you used to be in the hospital
at New York.' ' Who is she ? I don't remember her.' ' Mrs. Seton.' Then
inquiring earnestly, ' Is she dead ? ' ' No.' Then looking me full in the
face — ' She is a pretty girl.' Sister Rose says, ' She is going to be good.'
' She looks as if she would be.' I thought to myself, you have a fine taste !
They all appeared glad to see me. I believe I have told you all my things
here but one. Agnes missing Sister Susan, asked Sister Fanny, ' Where was
the pretty sister (meaning Sister Susan), not the religious one (meaning Sister
Rose), is she gone home to get married?' ' Oh, no, Agnes,' says Sister
Fanny, ' we don't marry.' ' I don't like that at all,' she answered. Oh, my
mother, how I long to be with you ; but yet a little while. I think it is time
to bid you farewell. Ever your own child.

"Bec."

122 AN OLD FAMILY. [A.D. 1816

She was the favorite sister of her brother William, and her
only regret was to die during his absence — he was in Italy —
but many affectionate letters passed between them. These
are her last :

"St. Joseph's, April 5th, 1816.
" My Dearest Brother, — We received last night your most dear letter of
January, and could have cried together to think that you have not received
our letters. But be assured, dearest Willy, we will write you every oppor-
tunity we can hear of. Last Sunday one year was the memorable day we
parted with you, two o'clock it was as the bell rung for silence — silence it
was with us. Mother can not speak of it to this day without starting tears
which mine answer. The spring is so far advanced that we already hear the
turtle dove cooing, which sits on the tree over Annina's grave. We think
perhaps, it may be the one we bought from Jim, and mother let go off
her hand."

" St. Joseph's, April 8th, 1S16.

"My Own Darling Brother, — We received two more letters from you
again to-day, and are too sorry that you do not get ours. I think it impos-
sible but you will sometime or other receive them. I am going to Mr.
Duhamel's as usual, but I would be twice as happy were you there. I have
Dick, and that is a great deal. I anticipate much pleasure ; Miss Polly so
kind, — Sister Susan so kind. You would have laughed just now had you
seen old Clem receive his new Piaster coat. lA-ha!' he said, 'my good
Mother Seton ! ' So much pleased. I hope you will not fail to give us a
little description of these times in Italy. Mama tells us they are so beauti-
ful. I would so much wish to join in your pleasures, which must be very
great, never having been there before ; but that great ocean between us, and
Mediterranean Sea, put me out of all such thoughts, but I trust, my darling
brother, we will meet in another land where there will be no seas and oceans
to separate us. I think I am daily getting better both as to my limb and
health. I hope and trust, if it please God, I may live to embrace you once
more. That is my earnest desire, it revives me to think of it. It seems
almost like a dream, that I have a dear brother, and one who loves me so
dearly, so far away. Farewell, my dear, dear Willy. I scarcely know where
to stop. Ever your most loving and tenderly attached sister. Bec.

" P. S. — I pray for you and our best friends, the Filicchi family, every
day in Mass, and also when I go to Communion. Pray, if it be our dear
Lord's will, I may live to see you once more."

She did not live to see him. Rebecca died a Postulant
in the Order of the Sisters of Charity, November 3, 18 16.

MOTHER CATHARINE SETON, 18/O.

a.d. 1891] MOTHER CATHARINE SETON. 325

The last words in her mother's Journal of her illness and
death are :

" ' Think only of your Blessed Savior now, my darling,' I said : ' To be
sure, certainly,' she answered, and said no more, dropping her head for the
last time on her mother's breast."

Catharine Seton. She was born in the city of New
York on June 28, 1800. Her youth was passed at Saint
Joseph's, where she remained until her mother's death. A
few years later she travelled extensively in Europe with her
brother William, who was in the Navy, enjoying a long leave
of absence. She was well acquainted with French and Italian,
and refused, from her unwillingness to depart from the condi-
tions laid down by the Church for mixed marriages, an offer
from the handsome and brilliant widower, then British Minister
to the United States, Mr. Stratford Canning, afterward the
celebrated Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, Ambassador at
Constantinople. Miss Catharine Seton was noted at that
time for her beauty, wit, and social accomplishments. There
is a large correspondence between herself and her brother
William, which we value and preserve with loving care.

Mother Catharine Seton, only surviving child of Mother
Seton of blessed memory, died at the Convent of Mercy, in
Madison Avenue, corner of Eighty-first Street, New York,
on April 3, 1891. She was one of the first to be received
into the Order of Mercv when it was established in New
York by the late Archbishop Hughes, and at the time of her
death was the oldest member of the Community.

A biographical notice of Mother Catharine says :

" Her life in the community was almost exclusively devoted to the care
and instruction of the poor, and to the spiritual consolation of prisoners.
For twenty-five years she was a constant visitor to the Tombs. No one-
probably ever acquired such influence and control over the thieves and
robber class of New York. Though complete reformation was seldom the
reward of her zeal and prayerful labors, she was able to prevent much evil
and inspire much good in the minds and hearts of this dangerous and

326 . AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1798

apparently irreclaimable class. They came to her for years to seek her
advice and guidance ; they endeavored to make her trustee and executor
for their wives and children, so implicit and unbounded was their confi-
dence in her. She would be called to the parlor to meet at the same time
some relative moving in the best circles, and perhaps some unfortunate
whose steps to the convent door had been followed by a detective. *

" Beginning her life with the century, she labored steadily in her chosen
work till the infirmities of age made it impossible to continue her active
exertions. Her judgment was always clear, and the late Archbishop
Bayley, her kinsman, always entertained the highest respect for her advice.
In her younger days she had known almost all the notabilities of the
country, and was a special favorite of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last
surviving Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

" Mother Catherine was also one of the last links connecting the Catho-
lics of the present day with the days of Archbishop Carroll, whom she saw
and remembered. The long line of eminent Priests and Bishops from the
days of Fiaget, Cheverus, Du Bois, Brute, England, and Hughes, was
familiar to her."

Richard Seton. He was the younger of the two sons
of William and Elizabeth Seton. Born in New York, on
July 20, 1798. His birth is thus mentioned in a letter of
his mother to a friend, Mrs. Julia Scott, in Philadelphia,
dated 31st August, 1798:

* The experience of the Sisters in the [New York] city prison, or Tombs,
would fill volumes. Malefactors of every country and degree have there
claimed their ministrations. Numbers have been converted, of whom some
died true penitents, and others have become useful members of society.
In reclaiming these, Mother Mary Catharine Seton spent the greater part of
her active life as a Sister of Mercy. She even took the trouble, at her some-
what mature age, to keep up by study her knowledge of modern languages,
that she might be able to instruct or console the prisoners of all nations
whom she encountered in this awful abode, which she did to the great comfort
of many a poor foreigner. . . . This good woman is loved and venerated
by thousands, in the prisons and outside of them ; she is truly the prisoners'
friend, and in that capacity has inherited strange bequests. Once a trunk,
supposed to contain clothing for the poor, came to her by express from
Philadelphia. Its contents were pistols, jimmies, and other burglars' tools,
with one suit of clothing, the dying legacy of a noted burglar whom Mother
Seton had made many efforts, not unsuccessfully, to reform. It was all he
had, and he sent the trunk with a good heart to his only friend and bene-
factress, Mother Seton, "to remember him by." — Leaves from the Annals
of the Sisters of Mercy, Vol. III., pp. 170-172.

#Z4s4L,

<5)^^-~ c/£t<rft(Z^

^^^^^^^^>^^

a.d. 1823] RICHARD SETON. 329

11 My pains are all over, and I have one of the loveliest boys to repay me
that my fond imagination could have formed — not a little additionally dear
to me for having the name of Richard Bayley, which softened by Seton at
the end, are sounds that very much delight me and are the promise of much
future hope and comfort. But I was so terribly ill that every exertion was
necessary to save me. The dear little son was, for some hours, thought past
hope : and the mother within one pang more of that rest she has so often
longed for, but which Heaven, for good purposes has again denied."

Richard grew up a worthy voung man, and tenderly attached
to his family. His love for his brother was remarkable, and
the most affectionate letters passed between them as long
as they lived. He was a fine musician, and inherited his
father's Stradivarius, on which he played with great taste.
He was also good with the flute and flageolet. He was hand-
some and over six feet two inches tall, but of a restless dis-
position, ever wanting to roam the world. He went to Italy
and to the West Indies, and finally found his way to Africa,
where a colony for colored Freedmen, called Liberia, had
recently been founded under the protection of the American
Government. One day in 1823 the following announcement
appeared in a Boston paper :

" Died on board the brig Oswego^ June 26th, on her passage from Cape
Mesurado to St. Jago, Richard B. Seton Esq., of Baltimore, late United
States Assistant Agent at Monrovia, aged 26 years."

The following letter to Richard's brother is from that
saintly man, Father (afterward Bishop) Simon Brute, and
breathes the tenderness and piety of his heart, for Richard
had been one of his pupils at Mount Saint Mary's College:

" Mt. St. Mary's, Sunday Evening,
"7th September, 1S23.

" My Dear William, — Mr. Egan has informed us of the fatal news and
the extreme affliction in which he left you and your good Kitty. Bear, I
may almost say, with a few lines from your poor Brute. Of consolation
he will attempt no other but the continual motto of your dear mother : ' He
is all — ail in all ! ' I was yesterday at her grave — wished you were. Saw
the wildness of the three graves — of the five ; then saw Heaven — as we
should so easilv, in faith, and told them vour heart of old and of now. I

330 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D.

did, for you both, and me. I spoke to some of the Sisters. Mr. Hickey

will have done so to all. I saw tears — he more. O mother ! Friday I said

here the Mass of community for him, speaking- a few words to the boys and

to the young men. I noted what you told me of his kind remaining with

that unfortunate colony. I said my hope of his last fervent remembrances

of our Lord, of his mother and holy sisters, Rebecca, Anna ; and of his best

moments for him, near them — and with yourself. Ah ! I witness — O my

God, my God ! To-day I recommended him in town — mother ever so loved

there. My William, bear with a devoted friend, and say, vouchsafe, say, to

your beloved and forever so dear, so truly respected sister, what you may

for me. Be blessed both. ' He is all ! all in all ! '

"S. Brute."

The Rev. Jehudi Ashmun, who sailed for Africa in 1822,

to take charge of a reenforcement for the Colony of Liberia,

says of Richard Seton in a letter to his sister Catharine, of

December 28, 1823:

"To your dear brother I well may acknowledge my extensive obli-
gations, lie found me a solitary white man on this secluded coast ; and
from a spontaneous movement of generous feeling, offered to become my
companion. He found me depressed with affliction, burdened with care,
and wasted to the weakness of childhood, by half a year's sickness. Too
disinterested, alas ! he offered to stay and supply more than sickness had
deprived me of. His open, undisguised character, the simplicity of his
manners, and the native kindness of his heart, had won, perhaps, further
on the affections of our black people than any other Agent had ever done in
so short a time. I have heard from them no other objection to Mr. Seton,
but that he was a white man ; the only fault which, with some of them, un-
fortunately, is held unpardonable."

V. William Seton, Eso^, of New York, Representative
of Parbroath. He was the second child, but eldest son of
William Seton and Elizabeth Bayley. Born in the city of
New York, November 25, 1796. He died there January 13,
1868. When he was but two years old his mother writes of
him, " William is still more like his grandfather Seton, and
as sturdy and saucy as ever."

He and his brother were students at Mount Saint Mary's
College, Maryland, which is not far from Saint Joseph's Sister-
hood, in the Valley, and on May 27, 18 10, their mother writes
to a friend :

1796-1816] WILLIAM SETON (3). 331

" If you could breathe our mountain air and taste the repose of the deep
woods and streams ! Yesterday we all, about twenty Sisters and children,
dined at our grotto in the mountain, where we go on Sunday for the divine
office. Richard joined his mother's side, but William contented himself
with a wave of his hat and a promise of seeing me afterwards ; and going
home he followed in a part of the wood where he would not be seen, and
gave such expressions of love and tenderness as can come only from the soul,
but always unobserved, and never forfeiting his character of being a man.
They are two beings as different as sun and moon ; but William most inter-
ests poor mother. In the afternoon Catechism he was asked if his business
in this world was to make money and gain a reputation, or to serve God and
use all his endeavors to please Him. ' My business, sir, is to do both,'
answered William, with a tone of decision."

Well, my dear father never made money, and never tried;
but he gained a reputation — the reputation of an honest man
and a friend of the poor; and fifty-two years after this letter
was written, the last time I ever spoke to Archbishop Hughes
of New York, on some occasion when he was stopping at the
American College in Rome, he said to me: "Robert, your
father was the justest man I have ever known." What par-
ticular circumstances may have caused that distinguished
prelate to form so favorable an opinion, I do not know ; but I
do know that my father's defence of his religious principles,
and of the Irish Catholics — sometimes at great risk to him-
self— during the Native American and Know Nothing years,
may have had something to do with it.

In another letter, written to a friend on June 4, 18 10, his

mother says :

"William is the boy of hopes and fears. Reading some lines in an
almanac the other day of the whistling of a sea boy in the main-top shrouds :
'That's your sort,' he cried, 'I'm your man'; and always talks of roving
the world ; but yet has great ideas of being a gentleman in everything,
without knowing that a gentleman without a penny is but a name. How-
ever, as his gentleman-notions make him a fine fellow, I trust it will all turn
out well, for a more loving and tender heart can not be imagined."

In 18 15 and 1816 he was with the Filicchis in Italy,
where he acquired the Italian language ; and I may here say
that he also spoke French and Spanish fluently. Of his

^2 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

journey from Bordeaux he writes to Father Brute, an ardent
royalist, on August 26, 18 15: "I reached here without any
accident, although I was pretty often cheated on the road ;
indeed, I have been uncommonly fortunate. On arriving at
Marseilles, Madame de Saint Cesaire received me into her
house as her son, as she was pleased to call me, and we
parted in tears. The French marshal * permitted me to cross
the Var, although the same day he had refused other foreigners.
Prom Genoa I traveled in company of an English gentleman
to Leghorn, where I was received with the utmost kindness
by Mr. Filicchi." In 181 7 President Monroe made him a
Midshipman in the Navy; and in 18 18 John C. Calhoun,
then Secretary of War, notified him of his appointment to
the rank of Second Lieutenant in the First U. S. Infantrv
with orders, if the appointment were accepted, to report to
General Ripley at Pittsburg ; but he wrote to his mother —
h« loved the sea so well — u I would not give up my Warrant
for a Captaincy in the army ; I would have no objection to
the order, however," with allusion to active work against the
Indians which a soldier might expect out West. His parting
from his mother was very sad, and from his companions at
college, by all of whom he was much liked for his manly dis-
position and readiness to defend the weak against the strong in

* Fifty years after this my father, in telling me of his early days, described
his interview with Marshal Brune, who was murdered a few weeks later at
Avignon, during the White Terror. Although strongly dissuaded from
trying to approach him and full of trepidation at the stories told of his
brusqueness and ill-temper, he went boldly up to headquarters and asked to
see him, saying that he was an American just arrived by way of Bordeaux,
and travelling for the first time alone. The marshal received him very
politely, ordered refreshments, and made him sit down for half an hour and
talk of America — of republican America, of which he spoke with enthusiasm ;
for he had always remained republican at heart, and although he served the
empire, he would never accept a title from the emperor. Finally he dis-
missed his visitor with many kind words, and sent an officer of his staff to
escort the young democrat across the lines.

1817-1818] MIDSHIPMAN SETON. 333

the disputes that will occasionally arise among all schoolboys.
His mother writes to him in Boston on February 16, 18 18 :

" Young White came to see me the other day, and told me that there was
a little boy at the Mountain who said, now William Seton was gone he could
never have any more pleasure, for he loved him better than anyone in
the world."

The following letters to his mother reveal his inmost heart :

"Independence, Friday, Feb. 27th, 1818.

" My Dear Mama : — I arrived here three days ago, after traveling night
and day. The day before yesterday I reported myself to the Commodore,
and obtained permission to remain on shore for that evening. The next
morning I reported to the fighting Captain Downs, and obtained permission
to remain a day longer. To-day I have reported to our First Lieutenant
Rose for duty. My introduction was rather unpleasant, for I was ushered
into a court-martial sitting on a brother midshipman for disobedience of
orders. At New York I heard of Uncle Wilkes' death. Charles is a mid-
shipman in our ship. The Commodore received me very kindly, also Mr.
Sullivan, and Bishop Cheverus * with the heart of a brother, or rather of a
father. He desired me to tell you that Mrs. Wally had quite recovered of
the fever, and also her daughter, who had been attacked by the same dis-
order. He asked me to remember him affectionately to you. Commodore
Bainbridge said that he had known Grandpapa Seton and Papa intimately.
He is a fine man. I am so anxious to know what I have to do, that my
head is quite confused. The post goes every day, so that I shall never want
opportunities to write. For the present I conclude, as we are only allowed
three candles and a half per week. We are twenty-two midshipmen on
board, many of 1818. Remember me affectionately to Mr. Dubois, Mr.
Brute, Mr. Hickey, and all whom you know I love."

" Boston Harbor, March 4th, 1818.

" My Dearest Mother — Again I attempt to write you from this noisy
house. Indeed, it is a very difficult thing to find a fit moment, surrounded
by twenty-four midshipmen, each endeavoring to say, sing, and do what he
can in order to beguile the tedious hours, for we are to all intents and pur-
poses imprisoned about three hundred yards from the shore, which I have not
visited since my arrival. Next Sunday, however, I hope to revisit our dear
Bishop Cheverus, whose truly affectionate and tender kindness I shall ever
gratefully feel. I forgot to tell you in my last that in passing through New

* He was the first Bishop of Boston. He returned to France in 1823,
where he died a cardinal-archbishop.

334 AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1818

York I could not see Sister Rose, she being out when I called ; Sister
Cecilia, however, and some of their little family, I saw. If I could judge
by myself, no earthly pleasure should take me from you : but our cases are
widely different. At times my feelings so far overcome me that I can not
restrain the outward expression of them ; happily for me, our apartment is
so dark that we can not see without candles at mid-day. Our duty is very
easy. The drums beat up hammocks at half past seven o'clock, and to
quarters at nine. During the day we have our different watches : some-
times two, sometimes four hours. At night the same ; but as there are many
of us, we only keep a regular watch every third night ; but we may be
turned out at any hour, night or morning, to go ashore, and then must not
leave the boats on any account. Last night was my second night watch ; I
kept from twelve to two."

"Boston Harbor, March 25th, 1818.

" Dearest Mother, — Just ashore on liberty. I received last Wednesday
your first letter of the 10th of March, inclosing one from our Dick. I can
not tell you with what pleasure I perused both ; joy to know he was safe
arrived and pleased with his situation, and delight in the love of my
dearest one. Yet your gentle reproach was not unfelt ; could you for a
moment doubt my affection because I did not write as I promised from every
city? You know my heart too well to think me indifferent. Could I ever
be happy without your love ? No, my beloved mother, this world would be
a desert without you. Let me know something more of our darling Kit
when you write again, and do let that be soon. Every day when the purser
brings on board the letters, I almost devour them with my eyes to see if
there may be one for me ; but alas, so often disappointed — one of your letters
must have been lost when the mail was robbed. YYe have rigged our ship,
but there is no prospect of getting to sea just now, except in one of the
frigates. I have written to Washington to obtain a berth in any that goes.
I have seen Uncle John's widow ; she is very kind, and invited me to come
there whenever I am ashore. Our good Bishop and Charles Wilkes desire
to be affectionately remembered to you. Remember me to Mr. Dubois and
all at the Mountain ; also to those around you, for you know I sincerely love
all that love my mother."

" U.S.S. Macedonian, Boston Harbor,
" July 21st, 1S1S.

" My Beloved Mother, — Your letter of the 10th instant came the day
after Mr. Barry's, and I am happy to tell you that I received my orders to
the Macedonian frigate almost at the same moment your dear letter was
handed me. My desire has been so great to get to sea that you can't wonder
at my being rather elated at the prospect of so fine a voyage. The ship will
go round Cape Horn into the Pacific as high up as Columbia River, and
higher if the captain chooses, but so far she is ordered. We will cruise in

MOTHER SETON, l820.

The Sisterhood in the background.

a.d. 1818] MIDSHIPMAN SETON. 337

the Pacific two years, visiting all the important cities on the western coast of
North and South America, together with the islands visited by Captain
Porter, where we will see savage life in its true state. It will be, in fact,
one of the most interesting voyages ever made from this country. I long to
hear that you have perfectly recovered from your late illness ; if not, do,
dearest mother, let me know it, and I will use every endeavor to come to
you. It would be a great satisfaction to me, indeed, to pass a little time
with you before so long a voyage. The ship will not sail before the last of
September or the beginning of October, in order to meet the season for
doubling the Cape ; some say she will not sail till November. Charles
Wilkes and several of my friends from the Independence have just been
ordered to the Guerriere, which is expected to sail to-morrow, and several
others to this ship. I am quite comfortable here, living in the wardroom of
the Java until our ship is ready to receive us. If Andreuze returns, remem-
ber me affectionately to him, and also to all my friends, particularly to Mr.
Dubois, Mr. Brute, and Michael Egan."

"Boston, August 29th, 1S1S.
" My Dearest Mother, — I should have written sooner, but we have had
a very busy time of it fitting out ship. Now we have hauled her out into the
stream and are almost ready for sea, wanting only our powder (of which we
take one hundred and sixty barrels) and some small articles which we take
on board in the course of next week, when we shall drop down near the
Light and wait for. sailing orders, which the officers think we shall receive in
two or three weeks. The Macedonian is a most beautiful frigate, pierced for
fifty (carrying forty-eight) guns ; more completely and handsomely fitted
out than any ship that ever sailed from this or perhaps any other country.
She has thirty midshipmen and eight lieutenants, all clever fellows ; our
captain, a fine man, the same who was first-lieutenant of Captain Porter in
the cruise of the Essex. Oh, my beloved mother, if God spares me to see
you after my cruise, what a happy moment I anticipate ! But, alas ! it is
so far off ; and to think that I leave you unwell will cause me to quit port
with a heavy heart ; but He who directs all will bring this voyage to a happy
end, and me to your dear arms. Tell Kitty to write me a long letter before
I go, it will be such a time before I shall hear from you after we sail.
Bishop Cheverus, I suppose, has written you ; at least he said he would, the
last time I saw him. Doctor Matignon is dying."

" U.S. Ship Macedonian, Boston,
"Sept. 18th, 1818.

" My Dearest Mother, — I received yesterday your dear letter just as the
ship was preparing to get under way ; all hands called to send up top-gallant
yards, and unmoor ship, a stiff breeze blowing. Before night I must bid
adieu to the United States. I think the most proper place to direct your
letters will be to Valparaiso, in the province of Chili.

33§ AN 0LD FAMILY. [a.d. 1819

" My beloved mother, could you see my heart you would find nothing there
but your dear self and those beloved beings who center in you. My heart is
full, but I must endeavor not to let disheartening thoughts intrude at such a
moment. I must be on deck at my station directly, so I can say no more.
May God bless you, and grant we may meet again. I will write by every
opportunity. The pilot takes this. Adieu. Your own William."

''Valparaiso, March 13th, 1819.
" My Dearest Mother, — I wrote you on our arrival here by an English
brig bound to Rio Janeiro, since which no opportunity has occurred. This
goes by a Nantucket whaleman. God speed his passage, bring him safe
home to his wife and little children, and this letter to my beloved mother.
How much I envy the captain his prospect of a speedy return home ! I do
assure you that night and day my thoughts are constantly with you and my
dear Kit. Sometimes in my night-watch I imagine the Macedonian safely
arrived in the United States, and welcomed into Boston by the thundering
guns of the old Independence. No delay ; from Boston I post it to New
York, shake hands with our friends there, then on to Philadelphia. Here I
debate a moment whether to go by steamboat to Baltimore or take the stage
through Lancaster to Gettysburg. The latter route is ever dear to me in my
remembrance, having traveled it in such sweet company. At Gettysburg I
take a private conveyance and arrive with a beating heart in Emmitsburg —
then to St. Joseph's. The scene there may be felt, not described. After-
wards comes the meeting my dear companions at the Mountain : my friends
Mr. Dubois, Mr. Brute, Andreuze, Egan, etc., all are remembered and loved.
Thus I pass many a tedious watch, or rather watches which would other-
wise be tedious without these pleasing thoughts, glide away almost imper-
ceptibly, and I rejoice to find myself four hours nearer to my happiness.
Oh ! my dearest mother, may God yet grant us the blessing to meet again
and find you well. Don't be tired of life before I can see you once more ;
recollect, the cruise will be half over by the time you receive this. I have
been on shore very little since our arrival, and we are now about to sail
again in a few days. It is said that we only wait the return of Judge
Prevost, of New York, an American Commissioner in these parts. He
arrived here in the British frigate Andromache a few days ago, and went to
the city of Santiago, about ninety miles from this place. We have passed
our time here in scrubbing up the old ship and painting her. We exulted
to find that the Andromache could not compare with us, either for neatness
of rigging, decks, guns, etc., or beauty of model ; so that we bear the bell
in this harbor, as I fancy we can anywhere else. We have also given two
splendid balls, which were attended by all the fair of Valparaiso, and our
Consul and Lady Cochrane have given several to our officers on shore.
Upon the whole, we have passed our time rather agreeably in Valparaiso.
We now sail for Callao, the seaport of Lima. The midshipmen of the
Andromache tell us that there the fogs are very heavy morning and even-

a.d. 1819] MIDSHIPMAN SETON. 341

ing, and the middle of the day almost insupportably hot, so that I 'm
inclined to wish myself there and off again. From there I believe we shall
go to the Galapagos islands, directly under the Equator, uninhabited except
by wild fowl, both of the land and sea species in immense numbers, together
with seal, sea-lions, and other amphibious animals, also great numbers of
land and sea turtle ; the land tortoises weighing, many of them, from three
to four hundred pounds, and will carry a man on their backs without any
apparent exertion. One of them we had in our ship, given to us by the
captain of a whaler who arrived shortly after we did. The tortoise was
small of its kind, but I have frequently seen our little midshipman riding
him about the gun-deck without the creature altering its pace in the least.
They are all black, with feet resembling an elephant's, and rather a hideous
appearance, but afford such delicious eating that green turtles are not looked
at when these are to be met with. At these islands we shall remain some
time to strip ship and have a complete overhaul of rigging, spars, etc., and
to repair and refit every thing. They say that our going to Columbia River
is now unnecessary, as Judge Prevost has already received possession of the
settlement from the English for the United States. I forgot to tell you that
we are going to California, but upon what business I can not exactly say.
I hope to give you some day a full account of all our wanderings. I look
forward to the end of this cruise with hope and anxiety ; hoping to find all
well, yet anxious, very anxious for the health of my dearest mother and
sister. May God preserve you and grant us a happy meeting. As for
myself, I have not known a moment's illness since I left you — thanks to Him
who has protected me. I need not tell you to pray for me constantly. I
•often say a Hail Mary for you. When you write to Baltimore remember me
to all our friends there, to Mr. Harper, Mr. Barry, the Chatards, and the
rest who have been so kind to me. Don't forget to present my respects to
Sisters Sarah, Ellen and Rosaline ; I can not now think of any one with
indifference whom I have ever seen with you, those particularly whom I
know you love. Remember me also to my friends at the Mountain if you
have an opportunity — to Mr. Hickey, Doyle, G. Elder, E. Elder, Heyden,
€tc. I shall endeavor to write to Richard if I can by this occasion. I will
begin a letter at any rate, if I have to finish it another time it will be the
longer. Remember me most tenderly to him."

" U.S.S. Macedonian, Valparaiso Bay,
''April 12th, 1819.
" My Dearest Mother, — I write to you in haste by a ship bound to Rio
Janeiro. We have made a short trip to Coquimbo in order to pass away
time, and were very hospitably entertained by our Consul and the inhabi-
tants. The city lies about three degrees to the northward of Valparaiso, and
is pleasantly situated on a plain at the foot of the Andes, about a mile and a
Tialf from the sea-shore. The port, or place of anchorage, which consists of
a battery of three or four pieces of cannon and five or six huts, is nine miles

342 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1 82 1

from the city, and completely land-locked for small vessels, and affords excel-
lent shelter. It is a pleasant ride from the port to the city, and the manner of
riding still more pleasant, as the horses are always galloped. We entered into
the custom with spirit, you may depend, and put them to their speed the whole
way to the city, where we had been invited by our Consul to a ball, which
was attended by the Governor and other distinguished persons of the place.
The city is much handsomer than Valparaiso, and contains many churches
and convents, and one or two fine squares. In point of cultivation it forms an
agreeable contrast to the barren hills of this place. We remained there but
three days, when we bent our course again for Valparaiso, where we are still.
It is said we wait here to know the event of Lord Cochrane's attack on
Callao, our captain, from motives of delicacy, not wishing to be present at
the time it is made. I have had an opportunity of witnessing some of the
extraordinary customs of the country in Holy Week. The day before yester-
day being Maundy Thursday, all the Catholic ships in harbor wore their
colors half-mast, and their yards a cock-bill or in a zigzag, careless position,
expressive of mourning, and in the evening a stuffed effigy of Judas, with
a sword by his side, was hung at the jib-boom ends. On Good Friday they
amused themselves by keel-hauling, beating, shooting, ducking and con-
cluded at night by burning him. To-day, about ten o'clock, they squared
yards, mast-headed their flags, and all fired salutes. To-morrow will be
Easter. Oh, my beloved mother, what scenes does this happy day bring to
mind ! But, alas, they are past. Heaven grant they may return ; we can
only hope it. Do, my beloved mother, use every means to preserve your
health and my dearest Kitty's. I know you will, it is only yourself I fear
you may neglect ; you know how much my happiness depends upon it.
God bless you, and our dear Kit and Richard — a thousand loves. Re-
member me affectionately to all."

When he wrote the following letter his mother was dead.

"Macedonian, Off Boston Light,
" June 19th, 1821.

"My Beloved Mother, — At last my fondest wishes appear on the point
of being realized, and happiness, like a star from behind the clouds of a
dark and stormy night, seems breaking on my view. But, alas, the horizon
is not yet clear — and my poor, trembling star, how easily overclouded. You
may imagine how anxiously I wait your first lines. The last I received from
you was dated in May, 1820, one year and more back ; and what great
changes one year may produce, I fear to think on. Do write quick, and let
me know how you are — let me know all. Kiss Kitty for me, and remember
me to our friends at the Mountain. I shall keep my long stories until we
meet : in fact, I feel too wild to say more.

" Ever your loving,

" William Seton."

NATHANIEL PRIMP:.

A.D. 1826-32] LIEUTENANT SETON 345

A few years later, 1826, my father was a Lieutenant, and
made cruises in the West Indies, on the coast of Africa and
in the Mediterranean, always respected and always admired,
for he was a remarkably smart and handsome officer.

On Thursday, July 17, 1832, William Seton was married

by the Rev. Father Varela to Emily, daughter of Nathaniel

Prime, Esq., and Cornelia Sands. He soon after resigned

from the Navy. Mrs. Seton was born in New York on June

26, 1804, and died in the south of France, on November 28,

1854. We had gone to Pau for her health.* Her father

was a distinguished character, and for those days a very

rich man. My father might have said to my mother with

Bassan'10 :

" Gentle lady,

When I did first impart my love to you,

I freely told you all the wealth I had

Ran in my veins : I was a gentleman."

Nathaniel Prime, the fourteenth of a family of fifteen chil-
dren, came of that good old New England stock which, before
the middle of the seventeenth century, had settled on and
spread inward from the shores of Massachusetts, founding
self-governing communities and raising the province to pros-
perity and renown among the thirteen American Colonies
sprung from that mighty people which was beginning to en-
circle the world :

"And England sent her men, from men the chief,
Who taught those sires of Empire yet to be,
To plant the tree of life — to plant fair Freedom's tree."

The first of the family who appeared in this country was
Mark Prime. He settled between September, 1639, and Jan-
uary, 1644, at Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts. Na-

* My dear mother was an excellent musician, and spoke French and
Italian. She had visited Europe with her father in 1826. To have made
the Grand Tour in those days conferred, in the United States, a certain
distinction upon the traveller.

346 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1768

thaniel was born there on January 30, 1768, in the house,
still standing, which his father erected in 1753 on the land
assigned to his ancestor between the dates given above.
Young Prime, like many other New Englanders — or Yankees,
if anyone like to call them so — went to New York in April,
1792, well equipped by education and native abilities to make
his fortune, and in 1798 founded, and was long the head of
the "historic banking-house of Prime, Ward & King" — a
firm which remained in existence for more than one hundred
years. He was a gentleman born, and used a seal — of which
I have an impression before me — of the Prime arms : Argent,
an eagle's leg erased a-la-cuise sable, armed or with his initials
underneath, N. P. There is in the Temple Church, London,
a small but handsome monument (now removed to the gal-
lery), with an elegant Latin inscription, to Sir Samuel Prime,
Knight, son of Samuel Prime, Esq., of Suffolk, England, the
county from which the original settler in America came, and
father of the late Richard Prime, Esq., of Walberton House,
Sussex, J. P. and D.L. ; Member of Parliament for West
Sussex, 1847 to I^54-

Nathaniel Prime was a student of Shakespeare, and a
treasured memorial of my grandfather is a set of Shakespeare's
works in twelve volumes, published at New York in 18 17 by
Henry Durell. It is one of the earliest American editions of
the dramatist, and contains the autograph of Nathaniel Prime,
who gave it to my father, from whom I received it.

Mr. Prime married, in New York, on June 3, 1797, Cor-
nelia, daughter of Hon. Comfort Sands, a distinguished patriot,
who had been a friend and correspondent of Washington.
He was President of the New York Chamber of Commerce.
The Sands family was also originally from New England. The
founder, James Sands, or Sandys, was born in England in 1622,
and, tradition has it, was a native of Reading, in Berkshire,
and descended from Lord Sandys of the Vine. He landed at

CORNELIA SANDS.
(Mrs. Nathaniel Prime.)

A.i). 1810] NATHANIEL PRIME. 349

Plymouth, Massachusetts, before 1642. Died on Block
Island, March 13, 1695, and is interred there. " Captain
James Sands commanded the New Shoreham Company in
King Philip's War, and his house was turned into a fort and
garrisoned by him." The Sands, like many other New Eng-
land families, moved gradually toward New York, and Sands''
Point, Long Island, and Sands Street, Brooklyn, commemorate
some of their migrations and possessions. The wife of Com-
fort Sands, mother of Cornelia, wife of Nathaniel Prime, was
a daughter of Wilkie Dodge and Mary, daughter of Thomas
Hunt, of Hunt's Point, Westchester County, New York.
Mrs. Sands died in New York, January 24, 1795. Her
pall-bearers were representative men in the community, and
show as goodly an array of old New York names as can be
found anywhere: "William Seton, J. C. Shaw, Robert
Lenox, Henry Cruger, Anthony L. Bleecker, Isaac Roose-
velt, William Maxwell, and William Constable." It is
noticeable that these eight names are either of Scotch (5) or
of Dutch (3) origin, although the Sands connection was all of
English descent.

Nathaniel Prime bought the house No. 1 Broadway in
18 10. This historical mansion, which had been the British
headquarters during the Revolution, and the scene of impor-
tant military councils and of innumerable festivities, was torn
down a few years ago, and its site is now occupied by the
Washington Building. Mr. Prime 'k lived there many years,
and saw his sons and daughters intermarry with the first fami-
lies in New York," says Walter Barrett in his Old Merchants.
He died on November 26, 1840, and is buried in the Prime
vault beside the picturesque Episcopal church of Saint Paul, in
East Chester, New York.

Of the three sons of Nathaniel Prime, the second one,
Rufus, was the most distinguished. He was born at 42
(now 54) Wall Street, New York, on January 28, 1806, and

350 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1868

was named for the statesman Rufus King, whose third son,
James Gore King, was the junior partner in the banking
firm. He was a graduate of Yale College; was familiar with
several languages, travelled extensively, and had cultivated
literary tastes. He was an original member of the famous
Union Club of New York, founded in 1836, and belonged to
the most fashionable set in society. On October 16, 1828,
he married Augusta, daughter of William Lambe Palmer, Esq.
— at one time a Captain, Eighteenth Light Dragoons, in the
British Army — and of Augusta Grenville Temple, daughter
of Sir John Temple, Bart., H.B.M. Consul-General to the
United States, a gentleman of an old English family which
produced the well-known statesman of Macaulay's Essay and
of the reign of Charles II. Rufus Prime was a handsome
man of refined appearance and of a liberal turn of mind. He
died at his country seat near Huntington, Long Island, on
October 15, 1885. Of his sons, one, Colonel Frederick
Prime, of the Engineer Corps, U.S A., was a brilliant officer
— a No. 1 graduate of West Point — now on the retired list.
Served in the Civil War. The other, Temple Prime, Esq.,
at one time Secretary of Legation to The Hague, is a scholar
and a quiet country gentleman, living at Huntington, Long
Island, of whom I may say, as was said of a certain character
in Loth air : " He had an ancient pedigree, and knew every-
body else's. "

William Seton (3) died in the city of New York, Jan-
uary 13, 1868. He was buried in the cemetery at Mount
Saint Mary's, Emmittsburg, Maryland.

Mr. Seton had seven children who grew up, besides two
— one of them George — who died in infancy :

William, of whom hereafter.

Henry, Major, U. S. Army. Born in New York. Was a
Lieutenant at eighteen in the Twenty-sixth Rifle Battalion,
Commandant the Duke of Wurtemberg, in the Austrian

Aet. 14.

A.D. 1861-1876] HENRY SETON. 355

Army, in which he patriotically resigned his commission to
serve in our Civil War. Was a Captain, and on the stair of
several general officers. Was appointed a Second Lieutenant
in the Regular Army in 1866, and has served with the
Fourth U. S. Infantry against the Indians on the frontier;
and in the Santiago campaign. Married, April 27, 1870,
Ann, only child of Major-General John Gray Foster, of an
old New Hampshire family,"'' a distinguished officer of the
U. S. Army, who served in the Mexican War; was in Fort
Sumter at the bombardment, in 186 1, and commanded a
military department during the Civil War. His wife was
Elizabeth Moale, a lady connected with all the best old Bal-
timore families.

Henry Seton had two sons :

John, who, after studying some years at Mount Saint Mary's
College and visiting Europe twice, died at Emmittsburg,
Maryland, on November 8, 1897. ^s bmried in the Moun-
tain Cemetery.

William, born July 11, 1873. A graduate of Seton Hall
College. A promising young man. Has studied Medicine
and taken his degree.

Robert, born August 28, 1839. Educated at Mount
Saint Mary's College. Studied Theology and Canon Law
in Rome, 1857—67, graduating with honor from the Ac-
cademia Ecclesiastica. \ Was named, in 1867, a Protho-
notary Apostolic. Is Rector of Saint Joseph's Church,
Jersey City, New Jersey, since 1876. Took his degree
of Doctor of Divinity at the Roman University of the
Sapienxa ; is an LL.D. of Notre Dame, Indiana, and a

* His first American ancestor was " William Foster who settled in Ips-
wich, Mass., in the year 1635."

f A History of La Pontificia Accadeuiia del Nobili Ecclesiastici, in
which my name appears, was published in 18S9. I received a copy from the
author, Monsignor Procaccini di Montescaglioso.

356 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1870

Trustee of Seton Hall College. Published a pamphlet on
The Dignity of Labor, which has been widely circulated, and
a volume of Essays in 1882, on historical and miscellaneous
subjects, of which a European critic wrote to a friend that
il it must have been composed by a man who lives in a library,
or who carries a library in his head." The author lives, it
is true, among his books; but his modest collection can
hardly be called a library. His essays, lectures, and maga-
zine articles have all been composed during the leisure hours
that a clergyman of methodical habits can generally find even
in the midst of sustained and active work. Hence he will
only say, with an old English poet:

My mind to me a kingdom is,
Such present joys therein I find,
That it excels all other bliss
That earth affords or grows by kind.

— Sir Edw. Dyer (1550-1607).

Emily, a pious and amiable young lady, who received her
education at the Sacr'e-Cceur in Paris. She had good offers of
marriage, which she refused, because she would have liked to
enter a convent. I have a photograph of Pius IX., which
he gave her on September 9, 1861, as she was preparing to
make a spiritual retreat, and under which he wrote : Dominus
duett te in solitudinem ut Loquatur ad cor tuum. She died at
Rye Beach, New Hampshire, September 26, 1868.

Elizabeth. Educated at the Sacr'e-Cceur, in Paris. A sun-
shiny character and a clever writer.

Helen. Educated at the Sacr'e-Cceur, in Paris. A nun in
the Order of Mercy. A good French scholar and musician.
She teaches in her convent.

Isabella. Educated at the Sacr'e-Cceur, in Paris, and at the
Trinita dei Monti, at Rome. Married, April 19, 1870,
Thomas Jevons, Esq., a brother of the late distinguished
writer, Professor William Stanley Jevons, a cousin of Sir

A.D. 1835] WILLIAM SETON (4). 359

Henry Roscoe, M.P., and a grandson of the celebrated his-
torian of Lorenzo de' Medici and Leo the Tenth.

The family of Jevon, now Jevons, is of Welsh extraction,
deriving from Jevan ap Jorwaerth. The s was added to the
name — merely for the sake of euphony — by my brother-in-
law's grandfather, Thomas Jevons. The earliest known
ancestor is Sir Richard Jevon, of Sedgely Hall, Staffordshire,
England, who lived in the fifteenth century. This old country
mansion, which is visited by members of the family as their
Cunabula Gentis, was inhabited some years ago by " a com-
munity of Jesuit Fathers, who received me very politely, and
showed me the place," writes one who went there. The
arms are : or, a torteau between three saltires gules.

The children of this marriage are :

1. Reginald Jevons;

2. Thomas Seton- Jevons;

3. Ferdinand Talbot Roscoe Jevons; and

4. Marguerite Jevons.

They all give proof of that love of study and literary talent
which they inherit from their family on both sides.

VI. William Seton, Esq^, of New York, Representative
of Parbroath. Was born in the city of New York at 22
Bond Street, then a fashionable quarter, on January 28, 1835.
One of the first students at Fordham College when the Jesuits
took it. Passed afterward to Mount Saint Mary's, Emmitts-
burg, Maryland, with his two younger brothers. Has trav-
elled extensively in Europe, and speaks French and German
fluently. Is also a good Latin scholar. Studied Law and
passed his examination for the Bar. The Civil War breaking
out just then, he never practised, but answered President
Lincoln's earliest call for troops in 1861. Was a First
Lieutenant and afterward Captain in the Fourth New York
Regiment U. S. Volunteers, and was twice severely wounded
in the battle of Antietam, where the official report says that

360 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1895

u he acquitted himself with great gallantry." After recover-
ing at Cragdon from his injuries, he was appointed Captain
in the Sixteenth Artillery during Grant's campaign against
Richmond. After the war he began a life of study and lit-
erary occupation, becoming favorably known to the public
by several works of fiction : Romance of the Charter Oak and
Pride of Lexington (historical novels) ; Rachel's Fate, and Other
Tales ; and The Pioneer, a poem which won the admiration of
William Cullen Bryant. After a few years he abandoned the
line of fiction to devote himself to the study of Natural
History, making for a long time yearly visits to Paris to
meet there the most learned men in their special branches.
" Mr. Seton's name is rapidly becoming well known in
Catholic circles as that of one who is doing much to pop-
ularize the discoveries of natural science in the sense of
putting them into clear and interesting English, free from
ultra-technicality," says one writer. He is a frequent con-
tributor to the Catholic JVorld, a monthly periodical issued
in New York, and has recently published a small scientific
work entitled A Glimpse of Organic Life, Past and Present.

Mr. Seton is a member of the Loyal Legion, a patriotic
society composed of officers who fought in the Civil War,
and an LL.D. of Mount Saint Mary's College. He married,
January 3, 1884, Sarah Redwood Parrish, a convert to the
Faith, belonging to an old Philadelphia familv, and had one
son, William, who died an infant. Mrs. Seton died in 1895.
One of her ancestors founded the Redwood Library at
Newport in 1747, the second public library in the American
Colonies.

Of William Seton it can be said, without flattery, that

he is —

A man of letters, and of manners too ;
Of manners sweet as virtue always wears,
When gay good nature dresses her in smiles.

— Cowper.

PLAN OF CRAGDON AND OF EAST CHESTER VILLAGE.

CHAPTER XIX.

CRAGDON, NEW YORK.

My earliest recollections, which go back fifty-five years,
are of our life at Cragdon, in Westchester County, New
York. This small but beautiful estate came to us from our
mother. It was on high ground, and completely overlooked
the village of East Chester.

It contained onlv a little less than two hundred acres, but
it was kept like a park, and my father might have said, as in
the inscription of Lord Chancellor Seton at Pinkie House,
that his dwelling was erected Non ad animi, sed fortunarum et
agell'i modum : " Not in the dimension of his tastes and wishes,
but in the measure of his fortune and his grounds." The
place was originally called The Cedars, from the number of
these trees growing wild there ; but my father named it Crag-
don, partlv because his grandfather had had a place of this
name on Manhattan Islan ' fifty vears before, and more
because it was so appropria. the situation being high, and
part of the trout stream that ran through the grounds being
bordered by many big rocks, among which grew the spreading
beech and other trees fantastically shaped or pushed out of the
perpendicular and leaning over the water. This stream was
originally known as Rattlesnake Brook, because, according to
the Town Records, a general beating up its course from sun-
rise to sunset was ordered some time in the last century, and
a great number of these reptiles were killed, and the breed
exterminated in that localitv. My father's favorite tree was
the elm, and next the larch, and he had many of them planted

366 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1840

about his grounds. As children, we gave fancy names to cer-
tain dear spots: Mother's Walk, Paradise Wood (from the
number of wild-flowers), Turtle Woods (full of land tortoises),
and the Island of Happy Delight, at the head of the upper
pond, where we held our picnics in summer. Other names
of earlier date, each with some story attached, were WTolf's
Cave, Cold Spring, the Falls, and Pulpit Rock.

We had a French governess in the house ; and private
teachers — among them a Professor of Columbia College —
came up from the city so many days in the week. One of
the sayings of my father which made an indelible impres-
sion en my mind was this, that if there wouldn't be much
money — divided among seven — to leave us, we should cer-
tainly have the advantages of the best education. We were
brought up in aristocratic seclusion. Our ancient Scotch
descent, our gentle English connections, and the social supe-
riority of our familv were made familiar to us from childhood •,
while the heirlooms and miniatures, and old letters with armo-
rial seals upon them, would be tangible witnesses of our asso-
ciation with other lands and other ages. We had therefore
something to look back upon with a justifiable sense of pride.
Our nearest visitors lived miles away: at Throgg's Neck,
around Fort Schuyler, at New Rochelle, at Rye, at the Van
Cortlandt Manor. Mount Vernon did not yet exist. Our
only railroad station was William's Bridge, three miles distant,
which my father used to say was quite near enough to a gentle-
man's house; and he usuallv preferred to drive the twelve or
fifteen miles down the old Boston post road, through West
Farms and Harlem, to the city. Like all the Colonial families,
my father had a stock of old Madeira. It had been brought
to New York by his grandfather in 1790. Some of it passed
into other cellars later, and was drunk as the " Seton Madeira '
at that famous dinner given to the Grand Duke Alexis of
Russia by Mr. Grinnell in 1872, in his house on Fifth

":>

"*wm. t

WILLIAM SETON, 1850.

^OST0vV>
PUBLIC

A.D. 1872] CRAGDON. 371

Avenue, corner of Fourteeth Street. The late Cardinal (then
Archbishop) McCloskey, who was a guest, spoke to me once
about the inestimable flavor of that wine. In winter the vil-
lage people of East Chester were allowed to come to our
skating pond in the evening and enjoy themselves. My
father would even have bonfires made for them on the rising
ground above it. When our own icehouse was filled, the
villagers were permitted to cut and take all they wanted for
themselves.

The only way of heating the rooms of our house was by
open fireplaces. Stoves were considered a vulgar abomina-
tion, and steam-heating had not been introduced. In the par-
lors, dining-room, and library only Liverpool coal, as it was
called, was used, and in the upper chambers and bedrooms
only wood was burned. The fire here always seemed brighter
and pleasanter to me, because the hickory and chestnut and
beechwood logs and the hemlock cones came from our own
place. Electric lights and gas and lamps were unknown in
those days, and our only light at night was from wax candles
in sconces and silver candelabra, and flat-bottomed silver bed-
room candlesticks. One must be able to look back over half a
century to know how different life was in a country house then
to what it is now. There was good fishing, and great duck-
shooting on the Sound, and my father was much given to these
sports. Our boathouse was at Reed's Mill, on East Chester
Creek, where there was a large patch of salt meadows belong-
ing to the Cragdon Estate. When spring returned, the
pleasure of our walks about Cragdon is indescribable. My
mother and I would generally go out together, and she would
take one side of the path and I the other, and our joy would
be to count up the number of flowerets each had seen at that
welcome season. It was after one of our walks of this kind
together that my dear mother took the bunch of wild-flowers
I had gathered for her, and going to New York next day, had

312 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.D. 1898

a first sitting for the miniature portrait which, as a surprise

for me, she had painted with them at her bosom, as in the

illustration :

The loveliest flowers the closest cling to earth,
And they first feel the sun ; so violets blue,
So the soft star-like primrose drenched in dew,
The happiest of Spring's happy, fragrant birth.

— Keble.

A particularly vivid recollection of my early days is about
sacks of meal and flour and potatoes and barrels of apples
from our place, that my father sent down during the Famine
to a relief ship in New York, that was loading for Ireland.
One thing strikes me at this time, more than fifty years after-
ward, because I contrast it with the growth of our national
spirit and the awakening of our people to their destiny. We
were the only house around which either had a flag or ever
thought of raising it. This was always done on Washing-
ton's Birthdav, Fourth of July, and Evacuation Day. In
fact, the only American flag, except the one we owned, that
I remember seeing then was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,
where I sometimes went with my father, who was one of the
founders of the Naval Lyceum there. Our Fourth of July
fireworks used to gather the villagers to our front lawn, which
was free that evening to all.

Cragdon was sold a few years ago.

The following article, which appeared in the New York
Evening Post, September 5, 1898, is from the pen of Mr.
Edward N. Vallandigham, by whose kind permission I
reproduce it here :

"A COUNTRY LANE IN TOWN.

"Beauty of a Little-Known Thoroughfare off the Boston Road
— a suggested trip for pedestrians.

" Since the Seton Lane has become a thoroughfare of New York city, it
seems likely soon to be civilized out of its rural charm. Already, indeed,

K-ZM-J

EMILY PRIME (MRS. WILLIAM SETON).

A.D. 1898] CRJGDON. 377

one fork of the lane, the larger and once much the wilder, has been greatly
damaged in the name of civilization. Two years ago a wheeled vehicle
could barely pass the lane at some points, because of the dense shrubbery
that grew along each side and met in the middle. Last year much of this
shrubbery was ruthlessly hacked away, but Nature, long absolute mistress of
the lane, made haste this spring to repair the damage, and although carters
hauling wood can still drive through the lane without losing their heads or
their hats, the place has really taken on again much of its wild beauty.
Those who would see this rural thoroughfare before civilization takes a new
and fatal grip, will do well to make haste, and, as the geography of Seton
Lane is known only to dwellers in the region thereabouts, a word or two of
direction may be of use to intending explorers.

"Standing high up on a grassy bank that overlooks the Boston Road,
and upon the left as one proceeds towards Boston, is a weatherbeaten brown-
stone mile-post, which says that the spot is fifteen miles from New York.
The stone itself and the region northward for about half a mile along the
Boston Road are now, as a matter of fact, within the city limits. A few rods
below the stone, on the same side of the Boston Road, and almost exactly
opposite pole No. 628 of the long-distance telephone line to Boston and the
East, is the entrance to the larger fork of Seton Lane.

"Any person with the historic instinct, and some slight acquaintance
with local history, standing at the entrance to Seton Lane and looking up
and down the Boston Road, can hardly fail to please himself with visions of
what must have been going on thereabouts when the Republic was young,
and even earlier, in colonial days. Two miles below is quaint little Bronx-
dale, with its rival inns, one of them redolent of old coaching days, and kept
by the man whose father established it in the first decade of the century.
Half a mile above is East Chester, with an immense old coaching inn, that
stands on a spot which has been the site of a public house for nearly two
and a quarter centuries. Not far beyond is the charming old St. Paul's
Church of East Chester, wrested from the Presbyterians by the Episcopa-
lians, thanks to the aid of a royal Governor, and used during the Revolu-
tionary war as a hospital for wounded soldiers. Within sight of the old
church is the country house where John Adams used to visit his son-in-law,
and whither that son-in-law was brought a dripping corpse, found drowned
hard by in East Chester Creek, the crooked stream that figures magnificently
in the river-and-harbor bill as Hutchinson River.

"Seton Lane itself hardly needs the glamour of historical interest to
enhance its charm. Its longer fork, perhaps half a mile in length, runs for
a few rods almost at right angles to the Boston Road, to a deserted home-
stead, and then, taking a sharp turn, plunges recklessly down hill, between
banks of ever-increasing height, until it reaches the edge of Seton Brook.
Shut in between the shrubbery banks of the lane, the explorer hears, without
suspecting the cause, a muffled roar of distant railway trains converging

378 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d. 1898

upon the city, or diverging into the suburbs ; a noise, however, that does
not still the chatter of squirrels or the song of swarming wood-birds. Over-
head is a strip of tropical blue sky. Seen through breaks in the edging of
shrubbery are high, almost barren, pastures, with great outcropping gray
rocks seamed and lichened. Under foot is thin sod over rock, with here and
there broad, bare, rocky stairs, down which in early spring flow cataracts of
rain-water to join the brook.

" The wild flora of the whole region seems to be epitomized in Seton
Lane. Bitter-sweet, Virginia creeper, several kinds of clematis, and other
climbing and twining vines clothe the rocks. Wild grapevines make little
bowers over long strips. Wild blackcap raspberries ripen abundantly for
any wanderer to pick. A great field of salmon-colored lilies glows in the
sunshine just south of the lane. Wild pinks and a dozen more familiar
blossoms star the grass at the lane-side. Everything, from the red squirrel
scampering along the worm-fence, to the snake that slips beneath the shelter-
ing leaf, is full of rural suggestion, yet a twenty minutes' walk along
Sahara, the dreariest square mile of urban territory, brings one to the White
Plains Road, and another half hour lands one in the heart of the city.

" The longer arm of Seton Lane ends in front of what was recently the
gate to the old Seton homestead, a great rambling house, in the colonial
style, set amid a delightful wilderness. Starting from the same gateway,
and leading out to the Boston Road at East Chester, half a mile from the
point at which the longer arm of the lane leaves that road, is the shorter
arm of Seton Lane. This grassy thoroughfare is edged by the brook, and
hedged with unspoiled shrubbery. At its very mouth, a few yards from the
Boston Road, a quaint little bridge carries the lane over the brook. Here
is the greenest and most deliciously picturesque spot imaginable, with an
odd little cottage * deep in shade upon one side and upon the other a great
open field, given over to grass and wild flowers.

" The explorer, if so minded, may walk northward from this point a few
yards along the Boston Road and take the street-car to the New Haven
Railway station at Mt. Vernon. If, however, he be of a truly adventurous
spirit, he will do better by retracing his steps through the shorter arm of
Seton Lane, entering the gateway of the Seton homestead, crossing the
bridge that spans the brook just within the gateway, and taking the path to
the left that skirts the brook.

" This path leads to the loveliest wild spot in the northern suburbs.
Steadily ascending, the path takes one to a rocky ridge, densely shaded with
hemlocks. This grove clothes the stream for 200 or 300 yards on either
side, and so dense is the shade in parts that only a few flickering rays of
sun-light visit the ground even at noonday. The stream flows deep between
banks of jagged rocks, and there are densely shaded rocky seats overhanging

* This was our gardener's house which my father had built for him
in 1840.

w si

A.D. 1898] CRAGDON. 383

the water. Near one of these seats is a g'reat crystal spring securely shaded
and protected from impurities by a broad flat stone. At one point in the
heart of the hemlock grove the stream falls in two cascades. The banks are
for ever russet with fallen leaves and the needles of the hemlocks. Curious
dense-green shade-loving plants flourish here, and the whole place, with its
gray rocks and deep shade, has druidical suggestions. In mid-winter, when
snow covers the ground, the effect is as of an arctic fairy-land.

" The path, smooth and well defined, brings one finally to the open
fields, beyond which lies the Kingsbridge road. The explorer may follow
the latter southward to the "\\ "bite Plains road, or, better still, keeping
resolutely across unforbidden fields to the Bathgate woods, may stroll for
half a mile or more through the shade of that delightful bit of genuine
forest land until, as in the case of the first alternative, he comes to the
White Plains road, with Woodlawn station and the train to New York only
ten minutes' walk distant."

CHAPTER XX.

LELIA SETON WILDER.

Lelia Seton Wilder is descended from James Seton,
of Drogheda, in Ireland, one of whose sons, Samuel, went to
America at the end of the last century and settled, as we have
seen, in Western Pennsylvania. His only son, William
Seton, born November I, 1772, became a Presbyterian min-
ister of great eloquence and learning. His Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin books are still in the possession of the family.
Rev. William Seton settled at Olivesburg, Richland County,
Ohio, and married Sarah Henderson, of a good old Scotch
family, in 1804. They had several children, of whom
William Henderson Seton, born August 12, 1825, was the
youngest son. After serving as an officer in the Mexican
War, he served again as Captain in the Twenty-second Ohio
Infantry in the Civil War. On September 6, 1859, ne mar_
ried Rachel Cantwell, who was a descendant of the celebrated
Roger Williams, of Rhode Island. Lelia Seton, their only
child, was born on her father's property at Olivesburg, near
Mansfield, Ohio, in 1864, and in 1883 married Charles
Rollin Wilder, Esq., of Cincinnati, Ohio, who moved to
Alabama and bought a plantation of sixteen hundred acres,
which is now called " Wilder Place," near Decatur. Mr.
Wilder died in 1885. His handsome widow began im-
mediately with great energy and success to manage her large
property in person, and is considered a remarkable character
in the South and all over the United States for being able
to do so. Mrs. Seton Wilder is highly educated, and was the
Valedictorian of her class on graduating from the Memphis
High School.

CHAPTER XXL

HERALDRY OF THE SETONS.

It is surprising how little is known in America of heraldry,
a subject whose practical uses almost every family aspiring to
social position desires to take advantage of. Most assuredly
a science which has engaged the attention of many learned
men, and the writers on which, in all ages and in every
country, have been largely drawn from the ranks of the clergy,
cannot be altogether devoid of interest and instruction.

Dante constantly describes persons by their armorial bear-
ings in his Divine Comedy, and so does Tasso in 'Jerusalem
Delivered, and the very name of the inn or hostelry immor-
talized in the prologue to the Canterbury Tales has an heraldic
odor clinging to it :

"In Southwark at The Tabard as I lay."

Armorial ensigns, handed down from generation to genera-
tion, are symbols of which the descendants of the first pos-
sessors mav feel justly proud, and to whom not unfrequently,
in these days, the ancestral shield and surname alone remain,
long after the old homestead has fallen to decay and the
broad acres that surrounded it have become the inheritance
of strangers. Heraldry has been called a science of fools ;
but I suspect it is a case of what Gibbon says of beauty,
u seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been
refused."

There is, perhaps, no family in Scotland — there is certainly
not one in America — the heraldry of which is so ancient, so

386

AN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d.

honorable, and so abundant as that of Seton. The arms of
Avenel were gules six annulets argent. The oldest heraldic
memorial of this ancient family is the seal of Sir Robert
Avenel, a Norman benefactor of Melrose, which is appended to
one of the Abbey charters, as on page 9.
The Seton arms are conspicuous in the
two oldest and most celebrated collections
in Europe, the Armorial de Ge Ire and the
Armorial de Berry, and the number of
colored shields in George Seton 's History
is over three hundred and three. The
American Setons can add a dozen more,

SEAL OF SIR ALEX. £QJ. nQ Qne Qf Qur J'ne J^ eyer marrie(J
SETON, I2l6. . .

unless into an armigerous family.
The arms of the de Says were very simple, as in the case
of all the more ancient families, being quarterly or and gules.
The arms of the illustrious ducal family of de Gontaut, in
France, are the same. The noblest metals, in heraldry, are
or and argent, gold and silver; and the fairest tinctures are
gules and azure, red and blue. These were generally adopted
by royal houses and by the haute noblesse ; and indicate, when
ancient, a more illustrious origin. The arms of the great
Norman family of the Mandevilles (de Magnavil), Earls of
Essex, being also quarterly or and gules, has led some writers
to suggest either a common origin of the Mandevilles and
Says, or even that these derived their arms from those. I
assert just the contrary : those got their arms from these. In
fact, William de Say married in the twelfth century Beatrix
de Mandeville, eventually Heiress of her name and family.
The eldest son of this union, William de Say, dying in the
lifetime of his father, left two daughters, the elder of whom,
Beatrix, married Geoffrey Fitz-Piers, who became Earl of
Essex, and whose sons and successors assumed the name of
Mandeville with the paternal arms of Say, a common custom

12 I 6]

EARLIEST SETON ARMS.

3*1

in that age. The original arms of the Mandevilles remain
unknown.

The earliest recorded arms of the Setons of Scotland are
given by Nisbet, the famous writer on Heraldry, who
says: u Dougal de Setoun.
His armorial bearing was or,
three crescents gules ; and it
may be reasonably supposed
that the lands of Setoun be-
ing formed by the sea in the
fashion of a half-moon, the
crescents were assumed by
the said Dougal."

The arms ascribed to
Dougal were to be seen
amid the splendid blazonry
of Seton castle. William
Play fair* agrees with Nisbet,
and writes that " the ancient
and honorable family of Seton
may be said to have assumed
crescents for armorial figures,
upon the account that their ancient territories and lands in
East Lothian are formed by the river Forth, into three great
bays, like three half-moons."

The tinctures or and gules of the Says were tenaciously
adhered to bv the Say-touns, although, as was a common
practice in earlier ages, thev made some distinction on found-
ing a new and henceforth separate family in another kingdom,
by assuming certain figures (crescents) which were to have
one of the two colors of the original family. As regards the
reason for assuming these figures, while Nisbet and Playfair
are considerable authority, I prefer the opinion of other writers

* British Family Antiquity, Vol. VIII.

SlLVER-MOUNTED SHELL SNUFFBOX
GIVEN BY THE EARL OF WINTON
TO SIR GEORGE SETON OF PAR-
BROATH.

388 AN OLD FAMILY. [a.d.

who ascribe them to a Crusading origin and to some victory
over the Saracens. The same arms exactly are emblazoned
in the Salle des Croisades, at Versailles, as borne by one of the
great barons in the Fourth Crusade : Eudes du Vermandois,
a.d. 1205, and again the same arms were used by the ancient
Barons de Wahull — by Writ of Summons, 1297 — m Eng-
land.

Setons are frequently mentioned in the illustrated Catalogue
of the Heraldic Exhibition, held at Edinburgh in 1891. One of
the most curious and beautiful exhibits there was the cc Seton
Family Tree," lent by Sir Alan Henry Seton-Steuart, Bart.
It is executed on parchment, the background being black and
the leafage green. Over seventy shields, generally disposed
as baron and femme, appear illuminated in gold and their
proper tinctures. Interspersed amid the foliage of this stately
and wide-spreading genealogical tree are various kinds of birds
in gaudy plumage. At the foot of the tree are painted differ-
ent sorts of flowers and two standing figures, one being King
Malcolm Canmore and the other Dougal de Say-toune. At
the top of the tree are four miniature heads of members of the
Seton family. The date is 1585.

The earliest existing seal of the family is that of Sir Alex-
ander de Seton, 12 16, which also shows a very early example of
Differencing, as besides the paternal ensigns it has a Label of
three, or more probably five points, the end ones being broken
off. This would seem to indicate that Sir Alexander used
this seal during his father's lifetime. A later seal, used by
another Sir Alexander Seton, in 1320, which is attached to
the famous, Letter to the Pope asserting the Independence of
Scotland, shows a departure from the ordinary arms of the
family, the three crescents being placed upon a Bend. They
have been given in Henry Laing's Descriptive Catalogue of
Ancient Scottish Seals, Nos. 736, 737. I was made acquainted
with the author by Mr. George Seton some thirty-seven years

1320]

EARL OF WINTON'S ARMS.

389

ago, at Edinburgh, and brought away with me casts of all
the Seton seals in his extensive collection, but unfortunately
I left them at the Accademia in Rome when I returned to
America. The next change in the Seton arms — it is rather
an addition or augmentation than a change — occurs in the

ARMS ON THE EARL OF WINTON S SNUFFIiOX.

fourteenth century, when the Double Tressure fleurs-de-lys,
called by heralds the Royal Tressure, was granted to them
in virtue of their matrimonial alliance with and descent from
the reigning family. It is one of the earliest instances of
such recognition in Scottish heraldry. It is thus found on
the shield of Sir Alexander Seton in 1337,* and on that of

* Woodward and Burnett : Heraldry, British and Foreign, I., 178, and
Laing's Catalogue, No. 891.

390

AN OLD FAMILY.

[a.d.

William, first Lord Seton, in 1384.* The arms were en-
larged in the early part of the fourteenth century by the addi-
tion to the paternal coat of azure, three garbs
or sheaves of wheat or, which are the feudal
arms of the ancient Earldom of Buchan, claimed
by George, third Lord Seton, in right of his
seton crest, wife, Lady Margaret Stewart, only child and
a Wyvem issu- heiress of John, Earl of Buchan, grandson of

ing out ot a ~> > 7 e>

Ducal coronet. King Robert II.
When Robert Seton was created Earl in 1600, he was
granted an augmentation to his arms to consist of azure, a
star argent for the title of Winton to be
carried on an escutcheon surtout. It af-
terward occupied the sinister side of the
escutcheon, parted per pale. There also ap-
peared somewhat later, in the full achieve-
ment of the Earls of Winton, another
coat of augmentation carried on the dex-
ter side; viz., gules, a sword erect proper,
hiked or supporting an imperial crown,
within a double tressure of the last, which
was given to the son and successor of Sir Christopher Seton,
who married the Lady Christian Bruce, sister of King
Robert I. — to perpetuate the services rendered to his coun-
try by himself and his progenitors, and to recognize their
support of the Crown of Scotland for the lawful claimants.
Woodward and Burnett (II. , 534) mention this as probably
the first example in Scottish heraldry of an augmentation to
family arms after that of the Royal Tressure, in which, as
already said, the Setons shared at an early date. It was
originally granted in connection with the Barony of Barnes,
and was long borne by the Setons of Barnes. Andrew
Seton, of New York and Florida, bore these arms in right

* George Seton : Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland, p 448.

LATER ARMS OF
SETON.

i384J

THE SETON CREST.

391

ARMS OF DUKE OF RICHMOND AND
GORDON.

of a Matriculation in the Lyon-Register at Edinburgh, in
1766.

The illustration gives these arms, somewhat enlarged, as
they are engraved on the inside of the lid of the shell snuffbox
(a Turbo Pica, from the island of Trinidad, cut and silver-
mounted by the famous
jeweller George Heriot)
given by the Earl of Winton
to his kinsman, Sir George
Seton of Parbroath, Knight,
and now preserved among
our most valued heirlooms.
Observe, however, that the
Double Tressure is omitted
on the inescutcheon, prob-
ably to avoid confusion in so
small a space.*

The Crest is an important part of the arms. It was orig-
inally a figure — often symbolical — worn on the helmet, and is
now represented above the shield. It was, at first, an ensign
of high honor, and its use was restricted to persons of greater
distinction than was required for the mere use of arms :

And on his head there stood upright

A crest, in token of a knight.

— Gower.

Bv gradual abuse, crests have become so common that
evervone who bears arms imagines that he is entitled to
have a crest also. Every old crest was such a figure or
device as might be actuallv worn upon his helmet bv a
mediaeval warrior with dignitv and a happv effect. An
ancient crest, one belonging de jure to an old and baronial
family, mav be represented issuing out of a Ducal coronet

* By my own inattention there is, in this engraving of the arms, gules a
star or instead of azure a star argent ; and azure instead of gules a sword
erect.

392

AN OLD FAMILY.

ARMS OF SETON 3F ABERCORN, BART.

or standing on a Cap of estate, called also of maintenance, or,
briefly, a Chapeau. There are only three or four families in
the United States which have a strict and inherited right to a

crest-coronet \ but we
generally have the good
taste not to use it, con-
forming rather to the
more modest practice of
representing our crest
upon a Wreath or Orle,
which, if colored, should
be of the alternate tinc-
tures of the arms. I
will here remark that the words ancient and old, as applied
to family matters, have a somewhat different meaning in
different countries and at different times. There are no an-
cient American families, although there are a few ancient fami-
lies in America. There are old American families — to con-
stitute which, some hereditary distinction and a residence in
this country of at least a century are required. No family
in Europe is called old which has not endured twice as long,
and none is considered ancient which does not go back five
hundred years, so that we may say that ancient and mediaeval
are there synonymous.

The English Dragon, and its Scotch equivalent the
Wyvern, issuing out of a ducal coronet, are among the very
earliest figures borne as crests in those two countries. Both
were connected with the Arthurian legend, and symbolicallv
with the overthrow of paganism. * A dragon was carried by

* . . . and on again,
Till yet once more ere set of sun they saw
The Dragon of the great Pendragonship,
That crown'd the state pavilion of the King,
Blaze by the rushing brook or silent well.

— Tennyson: Idylls, " Guinevere."

THE WYVERN.

393

Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester in England and Con-
stable of Scotland, in 1250, and it passed with the lands of
Winton * and Tranent to his kinsmen the Setons, but does
not appear to have been used as their permanent crest before
the sixteenth century, although it is alluded to in the old
ballad about Lady Margaret's abduction, from which I have
quoted. Over the first
Lord Seton's shield in the
curious Armorial de Gelre
is an antelope's head.
This interesting compila-
tion, the work of the
herald of the Duke of
Gueldres mentioned by
Froissart, is now pre-
served in the Bibliotheque
Royale at Brussels, and
contains many hundred shields of the nobility of different
kingdoms, executed about 1369. Forty-two of these are
Scotch, and are believed to be the oldest roll of Scottish arms
in existence.

The Hutchisons of Seton Lodge, Tranent, who claimed
relationship with the House of Winton, used for crest a
Double-headed Wyvern, on a Ducal coronet Statant, with
". Hazard Zit Forward " on an escroll above it, as shown on
the book-plate of Captain George Hutchison, R.N., which
was kindly given me by one of his daughters.

A Motto usually accompanies an old and legitimate coat-
of-arms. It is a word or short sentence which is inscribed
under or around the shield. It is often confounded with the

ARMS OF SETON OF PITMEDDEN,
BART.

* Winton is the Scotch equivalent for Winchester, and approaches nearer
to the Latin l^enta Belgarum-tht. v pronounced like a ?/, becoming our w.
In an early thirteenth century charter " Seyr de Quency, Comes Wintonie "
— Earl of Winton — is mentioned.

394

AN OLD FAMILY.

War Cry or Slogan, from which, however, it is distinct.
The motto was a general and perhaps time-honored sentiment
characteristic of a family through generations, and would be
engraved over the castle gate or worked into the interior dec-
orations of a dwelling-house ; whereas the war cry was more
military, as its name indicates, and was used only in battle and
private combat, when it would be shouted defiantly, each his
own, by the opposing champions. It should in correct heraldry

be placed above the shield of arms and be
connected with the crest. The Slogan
came into use earlier than the Motto, and
is more highly considered. No one under
the rank of a banneret, a chief of clan, or
a military commander was entitled to it.
Almost everyone who has a coat-of-arms
arms of governor nas also a motto ; but not many, and those
gordon of penn- only of once powerful and feudal families,
have also a right to the war cry or slogan,
which is, like the crest-coronet, an heraldic proof of mediaeval
origin. The war cry, called in Scotland the slogan, was often
taken from the family name, as u A Seton ! a Seton ! Set-on ! '
or from the gathering place of the clan, as " Bellandaine ! "
(a place at the head of Borthwick Water, Roxburghshire), of
the Scotts of Buccleugh.

Most mottoes are in Latin, but these generally date only
from the period of the Revival of Letters. The oldest mot-
toes are, almost without exception, in Norman-French or in
quaint English. The Seton motto is Hazard Zet For-
ward.

Sometimes it will be found written Hazard zlt Fordward,
sometimes Hazard Zet Forward, and sometimes again even
Hazard Yet Forward. This makes no material difference.
In the manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
a curious g is found, which in early English print was made to

SETON SUPPORTERS.

395

resemble a z, as when we find " neighbor " spelt " neizbor '
in Chaucer. This g was meant for the soft g of the Anglo-
Saxon in its transition to y or /', as in " gif, " " gef, " for If.
The meaning, then, of our elliptical motto is :

At whatever risk yet go forward.

The Supporters of the Winton arms were two wildcats
collared and chained. These fierce little animals were of that
now almost extinct species in Scotland called the Martrick or
Mertrick, which is mentioned by Hector Boece and by Bishop
Leslie in the sixteenth century, and described by Martin in
his Western Islands, printed
at London in 1703, who
savs that the "Mertrick, a
four-footed creature about
the size of a big cat," is
pretty numerous in Harris.
It has a fine skin, smooth
as any fur, and of a brown
color. There was, a few
years ago, one of these
rare animals in the Cat House of the Zoological Gardens
in London, which is said to have been " not only untamed
but untamable, and would be extremely dangerous if he were
brought in too close quarters with a friend or an enemy. This
specimen came from Sutherland."

After the marriage of Lady Elizabeth Gordon, Heiress of
that name, with Alexander Seton, created Lord Gordon in
1437, their descendants, Setons and Gordons, all retained the
paternal coat or, three crescents gules, within the Royal Tres-
sure. It is found in the arms of the Duke of Richmond and
Gordon,, of the Marquess of Huntlv, of the Baronets of Aber-
corn and of Pitmedden, of the Lairds of Mounie, and of
others. The Setons of Abercorn quarter, also, argent three

ARMS OF BARON HALKETT.

396

AN OLD FAMILY.

ARMS OF THE EARL OF EGLINTON.

shields gules, by descent from the Setons of Touch and Tulli-
body, who succeeded to the great estate of Egidia, daughter
and heiress of John Hay of Tullibody and second wife of
Alexander Seton, first Earl of Huntly. The crest, seen on

the letters of Mrs. George
Seton to her brother in
New York in the last cen-
tury, is a boar's head couped,
to show their descent from
the Gordons also, whose
paternal coat is azure, three
boars' heads couped or.
The Setons of Pitmedden
quarter the Meldrum arms,
with their paternal coat, being argent a. demi-otter sable crowned
or, issuing out of a bar wavy of the second, to show their
descent from Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William de
Meldrum of that Ilk. The crest is a demi-man in military
habit, holding the Banner of Scotland, with above it the glori-
ous motto Sustento Sanguine Signa. This crest was given by
royal command in order to commemorate the gallantry of
John Seton of Pitmedden, who was shot through the heart
at the Bridge of Dee (June 18, 1639) while holding the
banner aloft and calling on his followers to charge the reb-
els. A somewhat similar motto, and for a somewhat
similar reason, is used by the very ancient French family
of Chateaubriand : Mon Sang Telnt Les Bannieres De France.

I have seen in one of the halls of the University of Bologna
the arms, painted in fresco, of John Seton of Meldrum, who
was a student of law there in 1603. Underneath them is the
inscription, D. Joannes Sitonius Scotus Meldronl Dominus — i.e.,
Sir John Seton, a Scot, Laird of Meldrum.

The Seton and Gordon arms of the Earl of Huntly are
beautifully emblazoned on the heraldic ceiling of St. Machar's

PRIOR OF PLUSCARDIN'S ARMS.

391

Cathedral at Old Aberdeen, dating from 1520. This inter-
esting armorial consists of a series of shields carved in low
relief, and brilliantly colored to the number of forty-eight,
arranged in three rows of sixteen each, in parallel lines.

The Seton arms are seen on old documents in the State
House at Harrisburg,
on the seal of Major-
General Patrick Gor-
don, Governor of Penn-
sylvania (1726— 1736),
who was great-grandson

TORY PRIOR OF PLUSCARDIN.

of John Gordon, Laird
of Britmore, younger
son of John Gordon of
Cluny, second son of
Alexander Gordon,
Laird of Strathaven,
third son of Alexander,

Earl of Huntlv, grand- arms of Alexander seton, commenda-
son of Alexander Seton,
Lord of Gordon and
Earl of Huntly in 1450.
There is a portrait of
General Gordon in the
Governor's Room in
the State House at Har-
risburg.

There was formerly (1776), and perhaps there still is, a
family in South Carolina of the name of Gordon, which was
said to be of Baldornie, and which quartered the Seton arms
with their own.

Hay of Dunse Castle, Urquhart of Meldrum and Bvth,
and Gordon of Abergeldie do the same. The Earls of Suther-
land also quartered the Seton-Gordon arms, at one time, as in

u$ca'U>eng*>

SIGNATURE OF ALEXANDER SETON, PRIOR
OF PLUSCARDIN, 1586.

398 AN OLD FAMILY,

the set of Scottish heraldic playing cards, fifty-four in number,
of the year 1691. Another family quartering the Seton arms
with their own is that of Baron Halkett, of an old Fifeshire
family, by descent from Georgina-Robina Seton, daughter and
heiress of George Robert Seton, Esq., by Margaret Aber-
cromby, his wife, who in 177 1 married Major-General
Frederick Halkett. Their great-grandson is the present Hugh
Colin Gustave George Halkett, Baron Halkett of the King-
dom of Hanover, who married an American.

The Earls of Eglinton continue to use the old Montgomerie
arms; only, on account of the succession of Sir Alexander
Seton as sixth Earl of Eglinton in 16 12, they have assumed
the Double Tressure around them, and have changed their
Supporters, substituting Wyverns — the Seton crest — for their
former ones, which were Angels in dalmatics, " ever since
they came from the House of Seton."

I give two illustrations of the arms of Alexander Seton,
afterward Lord Chancellor of Scotland. The first is his seal,
when made an extraordinary Lord of Session in 1585, with
the stvle of Prior of Pluscardin. The Priorv was dedicated
to the Apostle of Scotland, whose name was also given to the
valley in which it was situated, which in ecclesiastical docu-
ments is always called " the Vale of Saint Andrew." In this
seal Saint Andrew, holding his cross, stands in the centre,
supported on either side bv a crowned figure, all three being
in niches or under canopies. Below these figures is the shield
bearing the paternal arms of his family, with a crozier (prop-
erly turned inward) behind and rising above it. On either
side are his initials A. S. The legend around the seal reads :
*S". Rotundum Alexandri . Prior is . De . Pluscardin.

The next seal is the Chancellor's as Earl of Dunfermline,
in 1618. It is quarterly, first and fourth, the Seton arms;
second and third argent, on a fess gules, three cinquefoils of
the first. The crest is a half-moon gules, and the motto the

EARL OF DUNFERMLINE'S ARMS.

399

Latin word Semper. Supporters : two horses at liberty, argent,
maned and tailed or. The inscription around the seal is :
Sigillum Alexandri . Setonii . Fermelinoduni . Comitis &c. The
Cinquefoils were assumed to commemorate his Hamilton
descent.

ARMS OF ALEXANDER SETON, FIRST EARL OF DUNFERMLINE.

JIT j ^>

SIGNATURE OF THE FIRST EARL OF DUNFERMLINE, l6lS.

The Viscounts Kingston carried quarterly, first and fourth,
Seton ; second and third argent a Dragon (Wyvern — the family
crest) with wings expanded, tail nowed vert. Crest, a cres-
cent naming. Supporters, two negroes wreathed about the
head and middle with laurel. Motto: Habet et Suam.

CHAPTER XXII.

ARMS OF THE SETONS OF PARBROATH.

In former times, when younger sons, who
were then called Cadets, were fortunate
enough to u erect and establish new houses,"
and retained (which was not always the
case) their paternal arms, they used them
only with some additional figure or with
later arms of some other change, called, in the language
seton of par- 0f heraldry, a mark of cadency. The Setons
of Parbroath in consequence first used the
shield or, three crescents within a double tressure gules, with a
small crescent in the
centre for difference.
Nisbet informs us *
that he saw these
arms painted in Seton
Castle. Thus, also,
it appears on the
dainty old mother-of-
pearl Card Counter
which is one of our
heirlooms. In Sir Da-
vid Lindsay's Regis-
ter and also on one
of the heraldic ceil-
ings of CollairnieCas-
tle, in rifeshire, the book-plate of william seton.

":f System of Heraldry, I., 236.

EARLIER ARMS OF P ARBROATH SETONS. 401

ancient house of the Barclays, the Parbroath arms are painted
with a Mullet azure in the centre instead of the crescent.
It may have been assumed to com-
memorate an alliance with the
powerful house of Lindsay, when
Alexander Seton, of this family,
married a daughter of Lord Lindsay
of the Byres. In 1601 we find ap-
pended to a Glammis charter the
seal of Sir George Seton of Par-
broath, which is unique, and ex- arms of sir george seton

1 -i • ■ 1 i- r .-U OF PARBROATH.

nibits a wide divergence trorn the

customary arms of the family. It shows the shield with
three crescents within a bordure engrailed, and three fleurs-
de-lys — one at top and one on either side — instead of the
Royal Tressure. Around it is the legend S. Georgii . Sey-
tone . M., meaning Sigillum Georgii Setonii Militis. For
much more than a century the Setons, late of Parbroath and
now of New York, have used the paternal arms of Seton
only; and it was the opinion of the learned John Riddell, " the
first genealogical antiquary of Europe," that the Setons of

Parbroath, as be-
ing now the only
Setons of original
stock through un-
broken male de-
scent, are better
entitled than any-
one to bear the
family arms without a difference. They thus appear on
William Seton's notarial seal of 1779, with the legend
around it : Will"1. Seton . Not. Pub. New York . In . Amer-
ica ; and on his elegant ribbon and wreath armorial book-
plate, mentioned by Charles Dexter Allen in his Early Ameri-
26

EARLIER ARMS OF SETON OF PARBROATH.

(From an old mother-of-pearl card-counter.)

402 AN OLD FAMILT.

can Book-Plates. My own book-plate shows the paternal
arms, surmounted by the hat of a Prothonotary Apostolic.
Clergymen should perhaps not use a Crest or Slogan, because
these are parts of the blazon suggestive of war ; nor Sup-
porters, because they originated in the strife of Tournaments.

CONCLUSION.

This Record of an ancient and once illustrious family is
now closed. The vicissitudes of Time make an end of such
things — finis rerum — in the common doom that overtakes

' The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power."

Of the Setons it may be said, in the very words almost of
that famous inscription in Westminster Abbey, that they came
of a noble race, for all the sons were valiant and all the
daughters virtuous. This is something to be proud of. The
love of ancestry and the hope that an honored name will be
passed down unsullied to posterity is no unworthy sentiment,
but rather an aspiration after higher things;* for, in the words
of him who has left us the impressions that filled his breast as
he stood amid the broken tombs of kings and the ruins of
monastic houses at Iona :

" Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, what-
ever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over
the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings.

Ind

e x

Abbey charters, 386.

Abbey of Holyrood House, 211.

Abduction of Lady Margaret Seton,
44.

Abercairney, 157.

Abercorn, Baronets of, arms, 395 ;
Barony of, 10, 164 ; Lairdship of
(1662), 165 ; first Baronet of, 236 ;
James, first Earl of, 94, 96 ; Mar-
quess of, 90 ; present Duke of, 72 ;
ancestor of, 96 ; Setons of, 141,
162, 164 ; arms (picture), 392 ; Se-
tons of, quarter arms, 395.

Abercromby, Alexander, of Fetter-
near, 235.

— first Baronet of, 235.

— Francis, Peer of Scotland, 235.

— Gen., 240.

— George, of Tullibody, 240.

— James, of Birkenbog, 235.

— Lord, of Aboukir, 240.

— Margaret, wife of George Robert
Seton, 398.

— Patrick, M.D., 235.
Aberdalgie, Sir Wm. Oliphant of,

204.
Aberdeen, 42, 232.

— Earldom of, 196.
Aberdeenshire, 42, 190, 196, 231.
Aberdour, 203.

Abergeldie, Gordon of, 397.
Aberlady, 155.

Abernethy, Sir Alexander, of Aber-
nethy, 190.

— Lawrence, of Saltoun, created a
peer — Lord Saltoun, 47.

— Mary, 190.

Abingdon, Abbey of, (note) 265.

Aboukir, 240.

Aboyne, 42.

Adair, Elizabeth, 178.

— Maj. Jas., inscription by, on me-
morial to Sir C. Seton (3), 34.

— John, Geographer Royal for Scot-
land, 178.

Adam, John, architect, 81.

Adda, daughter of Malise, Seneschal

of Strathearn, 1S7.
Adeloya, wife of R. de Sayo Picot,

11, 12.
Adinston of that Ilk, 177.
Adiston, 116.
Aelina, wife of Earl of Dunbar and

March, 24.
yEneas Sylvius (Pius II.), visit to

Scotland, 211.
Ainslie, 182.
Airdrie, estate of, 189.
" Airdrie," John Lummysden, 189.
Airlie, Earl of (present), (note) 154.
Alan, 24.
Alanton and Touch, Baronet of (189S),

163.
Albany, Robert, Duke of, Regent of

Scotland, 41, 54.
Alencon, 10.

Alexander L, King, 19, 20, 23.
Alexander II. , King, 9 ; charter of,

10 ; 26.
Alexander III., King, 27.
Alexander VI., Pope, Brief of, 57.
Alicante, 137.
Alice (or Helen), daughter of Earl of

Dunbar and March, 23.

— heiress of Sir W. Avenel, 8.

" Allan of Winton and the Heiress of

Seton," ballad, 44.
America, 22, 244, 254, 346, 385, 389,

392;
American Colonies, 345, 360.

— families, old, 392.

— Revolution, 239.

— War, 179.
Amfreville, 8.

Amsterdam, 115, 180, (note) 28S.
An A nsiver to M. De Rodori s Funeral

of the Mass, 142.
Anderson, James, of Cobinshaw,

LL.D., 174.
Andrew, Vicar of Tranent, 2I2.

404

INDEX.

Angels in dalmatics, 398.
Anglo-Norman, 27.
Anglo-Normans, 20.
Anglo-Saxon, 395.
Angus, Maormorsof, (note) 154 ; An-
g7is, or Forfarshire (Warden), 1S3.

— William, tenth Earl of, 139.
Anna, daughter of first Lord Seton,

50.
Annals (Theiner), 88.
Annaly, Lords of (Ireland), 155.
Annandale, 54, 55.
Aquaviva, Father Claudius, 127, 128,

230.
Arbroath, Parliament at Abbey of, 38.
Archambauld, (note) 316.
Archery at Seton Butts, 74.
Ardrossan, Lord (Earl of Eglinton

and Winton), 101.
Argentan, 6, 10, 11, 13.
Argyle, Duchess of, 260.
Argyll and The Isles, Prot. Bishop

of, 51.
Armagh, (note) 146, 249, 250.
" Armes Parlantes," 6.
Armorial de Berry, 386.
Armorial de Gelre, 47, 386, 393.
Armorial ensigns, explanation, 385.
Arms of Alexander Seton, first Earl

of Dunfermline, 397, (picture) 399.

— Duke of Richmond and Gordon,

391-

— Milanese Setons, 237.

— Sir George Seton of Parbroath,
(picture) 401.

— the Setons of Parbroath, 400.
Arms on Earl of Winton's Snuffbox,

389.
Arnage, Laird of, Buchan, 43.
Arran, Earl of, Regent of Scotland,

72.

— first Earl of, 190.
Arrat, John, of Fofarty, 147.
Ashmun, Rev. Jehudi, 330.
Assueton, Sir John, 47 ; gallant feat

in France, 48.
Athelstaneford, lands of, 142, 146.
Athole, Duke of, many titles of, 187.

— Earl of (1457), 187.
Atholl, Earl of, (note) 239.
Auchmuties of that Ilk, 203.
Auchmuty, Catharine, 185.

— Janet, 203.

Aunay-sur-Odon, Abbey of, 16.
Autun, ex-Bishop of, (Talleyrand),

264.

Avenel, 5,6; arms of, 386.

— De Biars, Wm., 7.

— Herve, 7.

— Herve (Herveius), 8.

— House of, 7.

— John (son of Gervaise), 10.

— Nicholas, 8.

— Oliver, 8.

— Osmeline, Lord of Say, 7.

— Picot, 7.

— Ralph, 8.

— Robert, first Lord of Eskdale, 8 ;
Seal of, 9.

— Sir Robert, benefactor of Melrose,
386.

— Roger, 10.

— Roland, 8.

— Sir William, 8.

— William, Lord of Les Biards, 8.
Avenellus, Osmelinus, 12.
Avenels, 10, 164.

Ayton of Ayton, 177.

Ayton, Sir John, of that Ilk, 177. .

— Margaret, daughter of Sir John
Ayton, 177.

Aytoun, 84, 135, 189.

Baillie, Sir William, of Laminton, 51.
Balcarres, first Lord Lindsay of , 132.

— third Earl of, 140.

Balfour, Rt. Hon. Arthur J., M.P.,
140.

— Barony of, 189.

— David, of Cariston, 71, 177.

— Isabel, 71, 177.

— Sir John, of Balgarvie, Kt., 189.

— Mary, wife of Gen. Alex. Bruce
of Kennet, 189.

— Laird of Burleigh, 189.

— Sir Michael, 71.

— Michael, of Burleigh, 187.

— Sir Michael, of Burleigh, 189.
Balfours of Cariston, 177.
Ballcanquaill, Mr. Robert, 138.
Balliol, Edward, attempt to seize

crown ; landing at Wester King-
horn, 38.

— John, 38, 210.

Ballymoyer (Ireland), 257, 258, 259,
273 ; Episcopal Church of, inscrip-
tion on window, 249.

Ballymoyer House, 241, 249.

Balmerino, charter to, 43.

Bankton House, 149.

Bannister, Mr., 255.

Bannockburn, 19, 35.

INDEX.

405

Barbey, Mary Louise, 298.

Barbour (poet), lines on Sir C. Seton

(3), 30.
Barclay, Andrew, 277.

— Charlotte, 277.

— Rev. Peter, 206.
Barclays, ancient house, 401.
Barnes, Barony of, East Lothian,

granted to Sir A. Seton (2), 36, 390 ;
Castle, 154.

— Sir John Seton of, 96.

— lands of, 154.

— Setons of, 390.
Barnewall, Frances, 298.
Baronets, hereditary, instituted in

Scotland, 165 ; Scotch, called of
Nova Scotia, why, personal decora-
tion, 165.

Baronies, how held, 183.

Barons, lesser (or minor), of Scot-
land, 183.

Barry, General Farquhar, (note) 265.

Bass, Lauders of, 67.

Battle Abbey Roll, origin of, 13 ;
work on, 14, 20.

Bauge, victory of , 52, 53, 54.

Bayeux, Mary, 277.

Bayley, Archbishop, 277, 326.

— Captain, (note) 276.

— Elizabeth A., 275, 277, 318 (see
also Mrs. E. A. .Seton).

— Elizabeth Seton, " Mother Se-
ton," foundress Sisters of Charity,
U.S.A., 276, 277, 325.

— family in America, 275.

— Guy-Carleton, xi, 277.

— James Roosevelt, 276.

— Joseph, 291.

— Richard, 329.

— Dr. Richard, 275, 277, 2S1, 291 ;
inscription on tomb, 292.

— William, 276.

— William (2), 277.

Bayleys of Hoddeston, arms of, 276.
Beker, Elizabeth-Rebecca, 265.
Bell, Seton Church, picture of, in-
scription on, 61.
Belshes or Belsislands, property of,

243-

Belsies, estate of, 243.

Benton, Lieutenant James, U.S.A.,

314-

— James WTebb, 314.

Berge l-op-Zoom, siege of, 179.
Berkeley, or Barclay, Jean, 25.

— Walter, 25.

Berners, Baroness, 244.
Berry, Agnes, 250, 251, 260.

— Sir Edward, K.C.B., 250.

— Miss, 261.

— Mary, (picture) 249, 250, 251,
253, 254 ; journal of, 260.

— Mr., 258, 260.

— Robert, 250.

— Seneschal of, 53.

— William, 250.

— Sisters, 253, 254.
Berrys, The, 274, 315.
Berwick-on-Tweed, charter dated at,

33 ; view of, 39 ; besieged, 41, 181.
Besancon, siege of, 114.
Besly, Anne, 276.
Bethunes, afterwards Betons, 177.
Beton, Andrew, 97.

— Cardinal, 70, 97.

— Mary, one of " Four Maries," 97.
Bezant in heraldry, explanation, 220.
Biars, 8 ; Baron of, 7.

Bible, Catholic, first published in
U. S., 301.

Biggar, lands of, 316.

Binning, Lord, 158.

Black Art, persons devoted to physi-
cal science suspected of, 56.

Black Friars (Dominicans), convent

of, 55-
Black Stranger (lord) of Say, 23.
Black Strangers, 22.
Blackness Castle, 231.
Blaeu, Wr. & J., Theatrum Orbis

Terr arum, 28.
Blunt, Sir Charles-William, Bart.,

167.

— Lydia (daughter of Sir Charles,
Bart.), 167.

Bonar, Alice, 204.

Bonars of Rossie, 204.

Bone, FL, (R.A.,) Seton miniature
by, 90.

Bonhard, Cornwall of, 165.

Book-Flate of William Seton, (pic-
ture) 400.

Boston, Lord, 274.

Boswell, David, of Balmuto, 179.

— Margaret, daughter of David of
Balmuto, 179.

Bothwell Bridge, battle of, 114, 139,

178.
Bothwell, Earl of, (attainted), 105.

— Francis, Earl of, (note) 142.

— Francis (in Old Mortality), 105.

— Patrick, first Earl of, 66.

406

INDEX.

Bothwell, Patrick, third Earl of, 105.
Bourbon, Count of, 177.
Bradford, Alice, 306.

— William, first Gov. of Mass. Bay
Colony, 306.

Brechin, battle of, 160.

Bridge of Dee, battle of, 171, 396.

British Museum, 49, 72, 139, 147,

191.
Britmore, Laird of (John Gordon),

397-
Broughty Castle, 190.
Brown, Amy, of Coalston, 45.

— Mr., librarian, 142.
Broxmouth, Patrick, sixth Lord Gray

of, 195.
Bruce, General Alexander, of Kennet,
189.

— Lady Christian, sister of Robert,
29 ; death of, 34 ; 390.

— David, King, 183.

— Edward, King of Ireland, march
from Carrickfergus to Limerick, 36.

— noble Scotch name, 19.

— Robert, 29, 30 ; kills Comyn, 33 ;
knights Seton of Seton, 35 ; 38,
116, 144, 182, 195, 210, 218, 222.

Bruce's contest for Crown, 210.
Brune, Marshal, (note) 332.
Brunne, Baron of, 20.
Brute, Father (Bishop), 326, 329,

330, 332, 333, 337, 338.
Buccleugh, Scotts of, slogan, 394.
Buchan, Earl of, Alex. Comyn, 38,

210.

— Earldom of, 390.

— Forest of, 33 ; district of, 42.

— John, Earl of, 54, 390.

— old Celtic Maormordom, 25.
Buckenham, Thomas, Lord Cayley

of, 243.
Burke, Sir Bernard (genealogist), 6,

20, 121, 160, 181, (note) 226, 264,

276.
Burleigh, Lord Balfour of, 189.

— Robert, Master of, 189.
Burmese Sword at Durham House,

168.
Burnett, Catharine, daughter of Sir
Thomas Burnett, 172.

— Sir Thomas, of Leys, Bart., 172.
Burton, 4 ; condemnation of cruelty

of Normans, 34 ; 38, (note) 88, 108,

(note) 127, 184, 214, 225.
Bute, Marquess of, 24, 124, 163, 214.
Butler, Alban, (note) 23, 151.

Butler, Catharine, Heiress of Rum-

gavie, 185.
Butts, Seton, 74.
Byres, Lord of, 188.

— Lords Lindsay of, 188.

Calatrava, Order of, 154.
Calder, Robert, 116.
Cambridge, George, 254.
Cambuskenneth, Abbey Church of,

. 35-

Camden (mention of Seton, North-
umberland), 28.
Campbell, 19.

— Duncan, of Glendouglas, 203.

— Gillespie, ancestor of House of
Argyll, (note) 65.

— Isabel, daughter of Duncan of
Glendouglas, 203.

— Colonel John, 295.

— Lady Margaret, wife of fourth
Lord Seton, 65.

— Sir Niel, of Lochaw, 35.

— origin of family, meaning of
word, (note) 65.

Camperdown, Earl of (Haldane Dun-
can), 51.
Candida Casa (Whithorn), Bishop of,

57-
Canmore, King Malcolm, 3S8.
Canning, Mr. Stratford (Viscount

Stratford de Redcliffe), 325.
Canongate Mansion of the Setons,

82.
Cant, John, 67.
Cantwell, Rachel, 384.
Cap of Estate (heraldry), 392.
Capellanus, Ricardus, 12.
Carberry Hill, battle of, 84.
Card Counter, Seton heirloom, 400.
Cariston, fourth Baron of, 150.

— Seton of, 176.

— Setons of, 30 ; founded, 71.
Carlisle, Earl of (Lord Morpeth), 254.
Carmichael, Mary, one of the " Four

Maries," 97.
Carnwath, Earl of, 117.
Carrick, Niel, Earl of, 29.
Carroll, Right Rev. Bishop, 319.

— Charles, of Carrollton, 326.
Cassils, Earl of, 93, 95.
Castle, Elizabeth, 173.

— George, of Oxford, 173.
Castlefield, 198.

Catharine, daughter of William, Mas-
ter of Seton, 53.

INDEX.

407

Catharine, wife of first Lord Seton, 49.

— daughter of lirst Lord Seton, 50.
Catholic Church, disestablishment of

in Scotland, 67, 311.
— , Tranent, laying corner-stone, 214.
Catholic, last as Lord Chancellor of

Scotland, 127.
Catholics, Scottish, condition of

(1574), 88.
Cayley, Anne, " Sweet Anne," 244.

— Sir Digby, 271.

— Dowager Lady, 273.

— Edward Stillingfleet, 244 ; pic-
ture of, 245.

— Edward S., of Wydale and Low
Hall, 244.

— Sir George, 156.

— Sir George, sixth Baronet, 244.

— Sir George E. A., of High Hall,
249.

— Lady (Isabella Seton), 244, 264,
271, 285, 286, 289.

— Margerie, 243.

— Mr., of Wydale, 271.

— Sir Thomas, 243, 244, 260.

— Thomas, Lord of Buckenham, 243.
Cayleys, seat of, 264.

Cellini, Benvenuto, silver plate

wrought by, 73.
Chambers, Stories of Old Families,

74 ; Traditions of Edinburgh, 83 ;

(note) 127 ; 140, (note) 184.
Chancellor, Mrs., 287.
Charles L, 66; visits Seton, 76 ; 108,

127 ; execution of, 132 ; 137, 138,

163, 164, 165 ; medallion of, 168,

196, 205.
Charles II., visits Seton, 76; 105, in,

114,. 132 ; coronation at Scone, 139;

165, 171, 196, 350.
Charles VII. of France, 53.
Charlton, Catharine, 275, 277.

— Rev. Richard, 277.
Charteris, Colonel, 156.
Chartulary, Diocese of Seez, n.
Chateaubriand, French family, motto,

. 396.
Chatellerault, 191.

— Duke of, 72.

Cheverus, Bishop, first Bishop of
Boston (later Card.), 326, (note)

333- 337-
Cheyne, Baron, 42.

— Christian, of Straloch, wife of Sir
A. Seton (3), 42, 279.

— Henry, Bishop of Aberdeen, 42.

Cheyne, Dr. James, parish priest of
Aboyne, 42.

— Sir Reginald of Inverugie, 42.

— Sir Richard, Lord Chamberlain, 42.
Cheynes, eminent family, sheriffs of

Banff, 42.
Chillingham, Gray of, 195.
Chinnery-Haldane, Right Rev. J. R.

A., Prot. Bishop of Argyll and

The Isles, 51.
Chirnside, Sir Patrick, of East Nis-

bet, 219.
Chisholm, Sir Edmund, of Cromlix,

162.

— Janet, daughter of Sir Edmund
of Cromlix, 162.

— very old Scotch name, title of
"The," 162.

Christian, Countess of Dunbar and
March, daughter of Alan de Win-
ton, 45. '

— daughter of first Lord of Lindsay
of the Byres, 55.

— daughter of second Lord Seton, 51.
" Chrystell's Mount" (or " Kerstie's

Mount"), Memorial Chapel to Sir
C. Seton (3), 33 ; torn down(i7i5),
Presbyterian Church built on site
(1838), 34-

" Church of Avenelles," Exmes, 7.

Cinq-Mars, conspirator, 53.

Cistercian Convent, Elcho, Prioress
of, 218.

Civil War, Am., (note) 265 ; 314,
316, 317, 350, 355, 359, 360, 384.

Civil War, Eng., 114.

Clarendon, Lord, 17.

Clatto, Castle or Tower of, 206 ; Da-
vid, Laird of, 207 ; Den, 206 ; Hill,
Fifeshire, 206 ; Lands of, 206.

Claude Nau, (note) 87.

Claverhouse, (note) 135.

Clermont, Barony of, 187.

Cleveland, Duchess of (Battle Abbey
Roll), 14, 20.

Cliffords, the, 183.

Clinton, Colonel, "American" Reg-
iment, 234.

— General Sir Henry, 295.

— Lady, 17.
Clun, Baron of, 15.

Cluny, John Gordon of, 397.

Coach first brought to Scotland, 73.

Coal, earliest mention of mining in
Scotland, 25 ; use as a combusti-
ble, excavation of at Tranent, 211.

408

INDEX.

" Coalston Pear," 45.
Cochrane, Lady, 338.

— Lord, 342.

Cockenzie, old harbor, charter con-
cerning, 100, 115.

Coilus or Coil, King of the Picts,
(note) 102.

Coldingham, Commendator of , (note)
142.

Colin, first Earl of Argyll, 65.

College of Justice, Lord Seton among
Senators of, 70, 71; (note) 142.

Collegiate churches first founded, 57,
66.

Colonnas, early history of, (note) 112.

Comyn, Alex., Earl of Buchan, 38,
210.

— Lord of Badenoch, 42.

— William, Earl of Buchan, 25.
Constable, William, 349.
Constable- Maxwell, Hon. Henry,

113-
Coote, Sir Eyre, 173.

— Francis, 173.

— Captain George, 173.
Cootes, family of, 173.
Cornwall, Margaret (or Janet), 164.
Cotter, Isabella-Mary, 179.

— Sir Lawrence, Bart., 179.
Coulonniers, manor house of, 177.
Coupar law, what it meant, 117.
Coventry, Bernard Seton, 157.

— John (2), 157.

— John, of Burgate House, 157.

— sixth Earl of, 157.

— Mrs., of Burgate House, Hants,
(Catharine Seton,) 68.

Cowper, Sir William, Lord High

Steward, 117.
Coylesfield, origin of name, (note)

102.
Cragdon, N. Y., 360; plan of, 363,

365 ; mansion, 367 ; description of,

estate of, 371 ; sold, 372 ; skating

pond at, 373 ; Wolf's cave at, 379 ;

winter scene at, 381.
Craggdon, 284.
Craigdon, or Craggdon, 264.
Craighall, Ceres Parish, 190, 206.
Cranston, Thomas, 212.
Cranstoun, old Scotch family, raised

to 'peerage 1609, now extinct or

dormant, its motto, 162.

— Samuel, Gov. of R. L, 162.

— Sir William, of that Ilk, 162.
Cravant, fortress of, 53.

Crawford, Earl of, 132, 192.

— Earl of, sixteenth, 135.

— Earl of (1746), 179.

Crawford and Balcarres, Earl of, 188.
Creich, church of, 197 ; parish of,

189 ; meaning of word, 202.
Crest, origin of, 391.
Crichton, Captain, 105.

— Sir William, Lord Chancellor, 54.

— Father William, Jesuit, 229.

— Wm., seventh Lord of Sanquhar,
Earl of Dumfries (1633), 163.

Croft, Elizabeth Legere. 317.

Crollalanza, Italian genealogist, 236.

Cromwell, Oliver, 114, 139, 249.

Crosby, Colonel, 295.

Culloden, battle of, 179.

Culross, Abbey of," Lord Seton dies

at, 70.
Cumberland, Duke of, 274.
Cumin, 25.
Cumming, 25.

Cunyngham, Alex., M.D.,(note) 118.
Curzon, Anna-Maria, 265, 267.

— of Croxhall and Waterperry, (note)
265.

— Elizabeth, 265.

— Elizabeth-Rebecca-Beker, 265.

— Ellin-Moale, 266.

— Henry-John Philip Roper, Lord
Teynham, 266.

— Earl Howe, (note) 265.

— Sir John (second Bart.), 264.

— John, son of Sir John (second
Bart.), 264.

— of Kedleston, 265.

— of Letheringset, (note) 265.

— of Parham Park, 265.

— of Parham, Sussex, (note) 265.

— Rebecca, 264, 265, 273.

— Richard, 264, 265, 279.

— Richard (2), son of Richard, 265.

— Roger, arms of, (note) 265.

— Samuel, son of Richard, 265.

— Samuel, son of Richard (2), 265.
Curzons, the, (note) 265, 275.

— of Waterperry, 264.

Curzoun, Sir John, arms, (note) 265.

Dabridgecourts, 16.

Dagger, Sir A. Seton's (3), 43.

Dalgety, 128, 132, 135.

Dalgety Lodge and Church, ruins of,

(picture) 133.
Dalhousie, Ramsay, Earl of, 45, 48.

— Earl, head of Ramsay family, 182.

INDEX.

409

Dalhousie, House of, 182.
Dalkeith, 113.

— Froissart at, 48.
Dallam, Eliza Lawrence, 265.
Dalrymple, Sir David, of Hailes,

Bart., (note) 70.
Dalzell, General, 178.

— James, fourth Earl of Carnwath,

113-

— Mary, daughter of fourth Earl of
Carnwath, 113.

Damietta, Sayher, Lord of Tranent,

dies at the siege of, 38.
Darnley, Lord, sojourns at Seton

town house, 82.
David L, King, Scotland, 8, 20, 23 ;

grant to the Gordons, 50 ; 211.
David II., 38, 66, 164, 182, 187, 188.

217, 227.
David, brother of William the Lion,

24.
De, prefix of names, 3.
De Atholia, Comitissa, 239.

— Duncan, Earl of Atholl, (note) 239.
De Avenel, Robert, 8.

De Barberey, Mme., life of Mrs. Se-
ton by, (note) 295.

De Bellomonts, Earls of Leicester,
72.

De Bercly, Walter, 24.

De Biars, Herveius (Herve), 7.

— William Avenel, 7.
De Bruce, 62.

De Cailli, or Cayley, Margaret, 243.

De Caineto, Ralph, 42.

De Chesholme, Robert, 162.

De Cheverus, Rev. Mr., 31.1.

De Clifford, Roger, 183.

De Clifton, Roger, 244.

De Commines, Robert, founder of

renowned Scotch family, 25.
De Crevecceur, Saint Jean, 262.
De Dunbar, Patrick, Earl of March,

26.
De Dunstanville, Reginald, 17.
De Eglinton, Elizabeth, 102.

— Sir Hugh, of that Ilk, 102.

De Elphinstone, John (1250), 221.

— John (1338), 222.

De Fauside, Gilbert, 217.

— Malcolm, 218.

— Robert, 218.

— Roger, 218.

— Sir Thomas, 218.

— William, 218.

De Fausyde, Alan, 26.

De Fawside, John, 218.

De Ferrers, William, Earl of Derby,

38, 210.
De Ferrieres, Hugh, 16.
De Ffauside, Edmund, 217.

— William, 217.

De Furcis, Christianus, 12.

De Gifford, Hugh, (Lord Yester,) 27.

De Gontaut, Arms of, 386.

De Gordon, Sir John, gets charter of

Strathbogie, 50.
De Graham, Henry, of Dalkeith, 10.
De Grentemesnil, Agnes, 16.

— Hugh, i"6.

De Hommet, Constable Richard, 16.
De Humphraville, Richard, 24.
De Insulis, Malcolm, (note) 239.
De Juvigneyo, Hugo, 12.
De Keith, Philip, Rector of Biggar,
27.

— Sir William, 27.

De Kynynmond, Eliseus, 178.

— John, Bishop of Brechin, 178.
De Lacy, Roger, of Stoke, 15.
De la Ferte, Sire, 13.

De la Hay, 112.

De la Zouche, Sir Alan, 38.

De Leslyn, Bartholomew, 190.

De Lind, William, 24.

De London, Joanne, 24.

De Lorris, Sir Launcelot, 47.

De Louis, 11.

De Lumsden, Thomas, 190.

De Magnavil (Mandevilles), Earls of

Essex, Arms, 386.
De Mandeville, Beatrix, 386.
De Manley, Edmond, Seton Manor,

Whitby Strand, conferred upon ;

killed at Bannockburn, 35.
De Meldrum, Dominus, (Alexander

Seton,) 160.

— Elizabeth, 396.

— William, of that Ilk, 396.

De Montgomerie, Robert, obtained
Manor of Eaglesham, 102.

— Sir Robert, 102.

— first of the family who came to
England, fought at Hastings, made
Earl of Shrewsbury, 102.

De Moravia, 187.

— Sir William, 187.

De Morville, Richard, 24.

De Moubray, Sir Philip, felled by

Seton, 30.
De Percy, William, Norman chief'

tain, 27.

4io

INDEX.

De Pitcairn, Johannes, 184.

De Quency, Seyr, Comes Wintonie,

(note) 393.
De Quincey, Ela, daughter of Roger,

210.

— Elizabeth, daughter of Roger, 210.

— Margaret, daughter of Roger, 210.

— Roger (Earl of Winchester), 23, 26.

— Seal of, 37, 38, 210, 393.
De Quincy, Janet, 23.

— Richard, 23.

— Robert, 23.

— Robert, acquires Tranent, 37, 209.

— Secher, Earl of Winchester, 25.

— Seyer, charter of, 211.
De Redvers, Baldwin, 17.

De Relincourt, Claude de Bertin,

Knight, 177.
De Rodon, David, (note) 142 ; 143.
De Rostoff, Prince Alexander Laba-

noff, (note) 195.
De Roye, Sir John, 47.
De Sai, William, 16.
De St. Liz, Maud, 23.

— Simon, Earl of Huntingdon and
Northampton, 23, 226.

De Sancto Claro (de Saint Clair), 226.
De Say, 6, 13, 16, 19, 20.

— Adelaide, 14.

— Agnes, 16.

— Beatrix, daughter of William de
Say, 368.

— Elizabeth, 17.

— Eustachia, 15.

— Geoffrey, 17.

— Gervasia, 16.

— Godfrey, 16.

— Helias, 14.

— Henry, 11, 14.

— Hugh, 15, 16.

— Idonea, 17.

— Ingelram, 17.

— Joan, 17.

— Jordan, 16.

— Lucy, 16.

— Margaret, 16.

— Picot, 14, 15.

— Picot Avenel, II.

— Robert, 11.

— Robert, receives grant of manor
of Stratfield-Saye, 16.

— Secher, 20, 21, 22, 216.

— Theodoric, 15.

— William (12th century), 16, 386.

— W7illiam, son of William (12th
century), 386.

De Says, 7, 12, 16.

— Arms of, 386.

De Say-toun, Dougall, 22, 23, 388.

De Say-tunes, 7.

De Sayo, Osmelinus, 11, 12.

— Robertus (Picot), 11, 12.

De Seethun, ecclesia, (Church of Se-

ton, 1242,) 56.
De Seton, Agnes, 226.

— Alexander, kinsman of King
Robert, 210, 222.

— Alexander, (1345,) 228.

— Sir Alexander, (1216,) 388.

— Angelique, 177.

— Capella, 28.

— Sir Crystell or Christopher, do-
nations to the Church, 27, 28.

— Sir Christopher (1), 144.

— Catherine, wife of Claude de Ber-
tin de Relincourt, 177.

— Henry, Warden of Balliol Col-
lege, Oxford, 226.

— Jean, 177.

— Jean (John), commandant in army
of Picardie, 53.

— Henry, 177.

— Ivo, 28.

— William, (1371,) 218.

De Setone, Thomas, Chief Justice

King's Bench, 226.
De Setons, 7.
De Setoun, Alexander (1), 25, 26.

— Bertrand, 25, 26.

— Dougal, arms of, 387.

De Setoune, Adam, 26 ; death of, 27.

— Philip, 23, 24, 25.

— Seher, 23.

De Seyton, Roger, Lord Chief Jus-
tice of the Common Pleas, 226.
De Sey-tounes, 7.
De Sitonis, Dominus Franciscus, 236.

— Dominus Johannes, 236.

De Vallado, Marquis, (note) 276.
De Valleau, Margaret, 276.

— Pierre Joyeulx, 276.

De Venton, The Seigneur, 45.
De Veteriponte, William, 1S3.
De Vipont, Alan, 183.

— Isabella, daughter of Robert de
Vipont, 183.

— Robert, 183.

De Vrou, ecclesi?e, 12.

— Guaschelinus, 11, 12.

— Radulphus, presbyter, 12.

— St. Mary, 11.

De Wahull, ancient Barons of, 388.

INDEX.

411

De Warville, J. P. Brissot, 261.

De Winton, Alan, abducts Lady Mar-
garet Seton, 44 ; assumes wife's
name, dies in Holy Land, 45.

— Henry, married Amy Brown, 45.

De Wynton, Henry, owned Wrychts-
houses, one of the heroes of Otter-
burn ; ' ' The Seigneur de Venton, "

45-
De Wyntoun, Alene, 44.
Denbigh, Earls of, 226.
Derby, Earl of (13th century), 38,

210.
Derodon, (note) 143.
Derwentwater, Earl of, 117.
Dick-Lauder family, 98.
Dick, William, of Grange, 172.
Differencing (on seals), 388.
Dillicarew, battle of, 28.
Dodge, Mary, 349.

— Wilkie, 349.
Domesday Book, 15, 243.
Dominicanesses, only House of, in

Scotland, 68.

Dommett, Henry, 263.

Don, Sir George, Governor of Gi-
braltar, 156.

— John, (Edinburgh,) 156.
Donnachie, Clan, 239.

Dookit at Parbroath (picture), 201.

Dookit Brae, 216.

Dookits, 201.

Douay, 143, 228 ; Scotch college at,

230, 232, 233.
Double Tressure fleurs-de-lys, 389.
Douglas, Sir Archibald, of Whitting-

hame, 140.

— Baronage of, Scotland, 171.

— Earl of, (14th century,) 48.

— Earl of, (15th century,) 53.

— Elizabeth, wife of first Viscount
Kingston, 140.

— Hugh, of Corehead, 53.

— Sir James, son of tenth Earl of
Angus, 139.

— Lady Janet, wife of first Earl of
Bothwell, (note) 66.

— Marion, daughter of Sir William
of Drumlanrig, 162.

— Lady Mary, married to second
Earl of Dunfermline, 132.

— Sir Robert, 121.

— Sir William, of Drumlanrig,
162.

Douglas-Hamiltons, Premier Peers of
Scotland, 72.

Douglass of Kelhead, Sir William,

Kt., 219.
Douglasses, of Glenbervie, 67.
Druidical stones, 184.
Drumlanrig, 162.
Drummond, 260.

— of Corskelpy, 150.

— Agnes, of Corskelpy, 150.

— James, first Earl of Perth, 105.

— Patrick, Lord, 132.

— William, of Hawthornden, 105.
Dublin Castle, Edward Bruce's siege

of, 36 ; 238.
Ducange, (note) 25.
Duddingstown, Janet, Lady Lath-

allan, 205.
Duel, last fatal, in England, 238.
Duffs, Dukes of Fife, 41.
Duffus, tutor of Moray, 155.
Du-gall, " Black Strangers," 22.
Dumfries, in the 16th century, 31 ;

Sir C. Seton (3) executed in, 33.

— Earl of, 163.
Dunbar, Janet, 51, 236.

— Lord, 118.

Dunbar and March, Countess of, 45.

— Earls of, (note) 142.
Duncan, Earl, 190.

— Gillis, 214.

— (King), 222.
Dundalk, battle of, 36.
Dundas, Christian, 165.

— Mary, 240.

— Captain Ralph, R.N., 240, 261.

— Ralph, of Manour, 240.

— of Duddingston, 240.

— of Dundas, 165, 240.

— of Dundas, Mr., 240.

— of Manour, 240.

Dundasses of Manour, or Manor,

240.
Dundee, Earl of, 196.

— Viscount of, killed at Killie-
crankie, 135.

Dunfermline, Alexander, third Earl
of, 135.

— first Earl of, Alexander Seton,
83, 94, 96, 123, 127, 128, 131, 132,
205, 225, 398 ; arms of, (picture)

399-

— Charles, second Earl of, adherent
of the Covenant, comes round to
Royalists, goes to Holland, returns
1650, marries, 132 ; death, 135.

— Earldom of, 316.

— Earls of, 68, 279.

412

INDEX.

Dunfermline, James, fourth and last
Earl of, goes to Holland, returns
to Scotland, at Killiecrankie, out-
lawed by Parliament, 135 ; death,
136, 156.

— second Earl of, 178.

— Setons, burial place of, 133.
Dunlop, Alexander, marries Eliza-
beth Seton, S3.

— William, 81 ; leases Seton Castle,

S3-
Dunmore, Peerage of, 181.
Duns Scotus, John, origin of name,

141.
Dunse Castle, Hay of, 397.

— Hays of, 140.

Dwight, Annie Metcalfe, 302.

Eaglesham, Manor of, Renfrewshire,
102.

— John, seventh Laird of, 102.
Earlier arms of Seton of Parbroath

(picture), 401.
Earls Marischalof Scotland (Keiths),

(note) 146.
Echlin, Sir Henry, 204.

— Robert, 204.

Edinburgh, 21 ; Black Friars Con-
vent in, 55 ; Advocates' Library,
57 ; Council House at, 185.

Edinburgh Castle, 44, 4$, 71, 87.

Edmons-ton, 21.

Edmonstone, Eline-Jane, 162.

Edmonstone of that Ilk and of Ed-
nam, 162.

Edmonstones of Edmonstone, 216.

Edward L, 203, 204, 218, (note) 218 ;
222.

Edward II., (note) 265.

Edward III., Berwick besieged by,
41, 42, 181.

Edward the Confessor, 16.

Eglinton and Ardrossan, Baronies of,
102.

Eglinton and Winton, Earl of, 24.

— present Earl of, descent, 101.
Eglinton, Earl of, arms (picture), 396.

— Earldom of, 102, 151, 398.

— Earls of, 26 ; origin of family
name, 101.

— Hugh, second Earl of, 66.

— Hugh, third Earl of, 101.

— sixth Earl of, 101, 398.

— ninth Earl of, 157.

— twelfth Earl of, 102.

— heirlooms, 74.

Elibank, Peerage of, 187.
Ellin, family name, (note) 266.
Elliot, Andrew, 240, 255, 262.

— Sir Gilbert, Bart., 240.
Elphinston, Father George, 128.

— Lord James, (Pres. of Council,
1605,) 128.

Elphinstone, 210.

— Baronial family of, 221.

— Castle, description of, 220 ; pic-
ture of, 221.

— Lord (present), 222.
Elphinstones, allegiance to King Ed-
ward I., 221.

Emmittsburg, Md., 294, 309, 311,

338, 35o, 359-
Errol, Earl of, in.

— Earl of, (Hay, 1453,) 112.
Erskine, Lady Elizabeth, 161, 162.

— John, fifth Lord, 162.

— lands of, on the Clyde, (note) 161.

— Thomas, Lord, 161.

Eskdale, Lord of , (Robert Avenel,) 8.
Essex, Earl of, (Geoffrey Fitz-Piers,)
386.

— Earls of, 386.

Eudes du Vermandois, 388.

Falkland, East and West Lomonds

of, 191.
Falside, Castle, history of, 216 ; ruins

of, 217; chief of, 219 ; lands of, 202.
Farquhar, James, 283.
Fatio, family, 316.

— Francis Philip, 316.

— Sophia, 316.
Fawside, Agnes, 219.

— House of, 219.

— James, of that Ilk, 219.

— James, son of Robert of that Ilk,
219.

— John, of that Ilk, 218, 220.

— John, brother of James of that
Ilk, 219.

— lands of, 219.

— Robert, of that Ilk, 219.

— Thomas, 219.

— Wester, lands of, 218.
Fawsides of Fawside, 219.
Fearghail, Irish chief, 155.
Ferguson of Raith, 250.
Ferrara, Andrea, claymore, 168
Ferrers, 215.

Fess, in heraldry, explanation, 220.
Feudal law in Scotland, 48 ; explana-
tion of as relating to Parliament, 49.

INDEX.

413

Feudalism, origin of, 2, 49.
Feudal terms, explanation, 183.
Fielding, Sir William, 226.
Fieldings, Earls of Denbigh, 226.
Fiennes, Lady, 17.
Fife or Fyffe, Father Thomas, 232.
Fife, Duncan, Earl of, 218.
Filicchi, Chevalier Philip, 294.
Findlater, Rev. John, 157.

— Margaret, 157.

Fitz, meaning and origin of, II.
Fitz-Alan, William, Governor of

Shrewsbury, 14.
Fitz-Hugh, Osbert, 15.
Fitz-Osbern, Hugh, 15.
Fitz-Picot, Robert, Baron of Brunne,

20.

— Robert, Lord of Aunay, 11.

— Robert, Viscount, 20.
Fitz-Piers, Geoffrey, 286.
Fleming, origin of family, 316

— in Florida, (note) 316.

— Scotch, (note) 316.

— Anne, 155.

— Baron, (note) 316.

— Charles Seton, 317.

— Charles Seton, son of Francis
Philip, 318.

— Christopher, (Viscount Longford,)
316.

— Elizabeth Legere, 318.

— Francis Philip, 317.

— Francis Philip, Jr., 317.

— George, 316. '

— John, sixth Lord, Earl of Wig-
ton, 155, (note) 316.

— Colonel Lewis, 316, 317.

— Marjorie, 218.

— Sir Robert, (note) 316.

— William, sixth Earl of Wrigton,
132.

Fletcher, family of, (note) 139.

— Sir Andrew, (note) 139.

— Sir George, Kt., 139.

— Jane, 139 .

Flodden, battle of, 19, 55, 67, 161,

188, 189.
Foley, Henry, S.J-, 231 ; (note) 233.
Forbes, surname of, derived, (note)

154-

— Alexander, 52.

— Ann, 154.

— Dorothy, 204.

— Jean, (note) 154.

— John, 204.

— seventh Lord, 154.

Forbes-Leith, A. J., 83.

— Father Wm., S.J., 53, 88, 90,

131.

Foster, Ann, 355.

Foster, Major-General, 355.

Fountain in the Glen, (note) 258 ;

(picture,) 259.
Fountainhall, Sir J. Lauder of, 172.
" Four Maries," 71, 79.
Francis II., marriage of, 73.
Frankland, Captain Arthur, 167.
Frazer, Sir Alexander, " messire

Alexandre Fresiel," 47.

— Sir Alexander, of Philorth, 47.

— Sir William, author of Memorials
of the Montgomeries, 122.

Fusil in heraldry, 6.

Fyvie, Alexander Seton, Lord, 204.

— Baron, 127.

— Castle of, (picture,) 85.

— Charles, Lord, 135.

Gairmiltoun, (note) 142 ; 147.
Galloway, Alan, Lord of, 210.
Gardiner, Col., (killed in 1745,) 149.
Garleton, baronetcy ends, 147.

— Sir John Seton of, Bart., 232.

— Sir John Seton of, first Baronet,
232 ; lands of, 142.

Gask, Oliphant of, 204.
Gaufredus Alius Oderelli, 12.
George Lord Seton of If is Age j6,

ij6y, inscription on tablet, 87.
Geraline, benefactor of Abbey of

Abingdon, (note) 264, (note) 265.
Ghost-room, Winton House, 108.
Gifford, Johanna, daughter of Sir

Hugh Gifford of Yester, 27.

— Margaret, 27.
Glammis, charter, 197, 401.
Glamys, Lord Justiciar of Scotland,

187.

Glassford, Lord, (Francis Abercrom-
by,) 235.

Glenbervie, Douglasses of, joined
with Lauders and Setons in obtain-
ing Bull from Pope Leo X., 67.

Gleneagles, 50; estate of, 51.

Glengyruoch (Gleghorn), John Lum-
mysden of, 189.

Golf at Seton links, 74.

Gordon, 19.

— of Abergeldie, 397.

— Sir Adam, 49.

— Alexander, Laird of Strathaven,
397-

4 M

INDEX.

Gordon, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
A. Gordon, 49, 395.

— Elizabeth, wife of Sir A. Gordon,
49.

— Father James, received at Seton
House, 229.

— Father, Superior of the Scotch
Mission, 230.

— George Ogden, 306.

— Lady Henrietta, daughter of Mar-
quess of Huntly, 113.

— Lady Jane, 135.

— John, 306.

— John, Laird of Britmore, 397.

— John, of Cluny, 397.

— John, Lochinvar branch, 306.

— lands of, in Merse of Berwick-
shire, origin of name, 50.

— Lord, (Alexander Seton,) 50.

— Lord, (Seton of Abercorn, third
Baronet,) 165.

— Lord of, and Earl of Huntly
(1450), 397.

— Patrick, Maj.-Gen., Governor of
Pennsylvania, arms of (picture),

394, 397-

— Patrick, poem on King Robert,

36.

— Sir Robert, of Lochinvar, 154.

— of Rothiemay, 82.

— Thomas, 306.

— William Seton, 306.
Gordon-Cumming (of Altyre), 26.
Gordons, 216.

Gordons, originally from Normandy,

typical Highland family, 50.
Grafton, Duke of, (note) 244.
Graham, John, of Claverhouse, (note)

135.

Grange and Fountain Hall (Lauder

family), 98.
Grant, Andrew, (peerage 1444,) 195.

— James, 184.

— Janet, Dowager Countess of
Hyndford, (note) 156.

Grant-Suttie, Sir George, Bart., 220.
Gray, Sir Andrew, 195.

— eleventh Lord, 195.

— family of, 195.

— Jane, 195.

— Mary, 195.

— Sir Thomas, 35.

— (Sir) Thomas, priest, 195.

— of Broxmouth, Patrick, sixth Lord,

195-

— of Chillingham, 195.

Gregory XIII. , Pope, 88, 123.
Greyfriars Church, Dumfries, 33.
"Grey Steel," nickname of Sir A.

Seton, 102.
Gueldres, Duke of, 393.
Guise, Duke of, 71, 89.
Guise and Bourbon, Cardinals of, 88.

Hackney coaches, first used in Lon-
don, (note) 276.
Haddington, George, Earl of, 219.

— Sir A. Seton (2), benefactor of
Monastery of, 38 ; Presbytery of,

IOI, III.

Haddon estate, Derbyshire, 8.
Hagioscope, Seton Church, 61.
Hailes, Lord, remarks on Sir C.

Seton (3), 29.
Haldane, Bernard of Gleneagles, 50.

— now a rare name, 51.
Haldanes, barons in Perthshire, 51.
Haliburton, Sir James, 196.
Halkett, Baron, arms of (picture),

395 ; old Fifeshire family, 398.

— Frederick, Major-General, 398.

— Hugh Colin Gustave G., 398.
Halyburton, Catharine, of Pitcur,

206.

— Jean, 45.

— Sir Thomas, of Dirleton, 45.

— Lord John (2), 53.
Hamilton, 19, 21.

— Claude, Lord of Paisley, 94, 96.

— Duke of, 127.

— General Richard, C.B., 168.

— General, son of Gen. Richard, 168.

— Helen, 168.

— Isabella, wife of seventh Lord
Seton, 90, 93, 95, 96, 123, 131.

— James, first Earl of Arran, 190.

— Palace, picture collection, 90.

— Sir William, of Sanquhar, 71, 72,

93, 95-

Hamilton and Brandon, Dukes of,
72.

Hamilton and Fawside, battle, 219.

Hamilton of Preston, 50, 219.

Hamilton of Samuelston, James, 190.

Hamiltons, their origin, 72, 84 ; head
of, 164.

Hanoverian troops quartered in Se-
ton Castle, 58.

Hart, Andrew, poem printed by heirs
of, 131.

Hastings, battle of, 3, 7, 12, 102,
183 ; field of, 13.

INDEX.

4*5

Hay, Alexander, of Drumelzier, 166.

— Lady Ann, wife third Lord Win-
ton, in, 112.

— Bishop, 232.

— of Dunse Castle, 112, 397.

— Egidia, estate of, 396.

— Elizabeth, first wife of sixth Lord
Seton, 71.

— Elizabeth, daughter of third Lord
Yester, 176.

— family of, 106, ill, 112.

— Sir Gilbert, of Errol, 35.

— Sir Gilbert, companion of Bruce,
112.

— Johanna, 27.

— John of Aberlady, 155.

— Lord John, son of Marquess of
Tweeddale, 113.

— Sir John of Tullibody, 161, 396.

— Lydia, 161.

— Hon. Margaret, 132.

— Margaret, daughter of Alex. Hay
of Drumelzier, 166.

— Margaret, great granddaughter of
first Viscount Kingston, 140.

— Margaret, wife of Sir J. Seton
of Barnes (IV.), 155.

— of Park, Bart., 112.

— of Smithfield, Bart., 112.

— Sir Thomas, (of Locherwort,) 27.

— Hon. William, of Drumelzier,
140, 141.

Haystoun and Scroggarfield, lands

of, 197.
Hazard Zet Eorward, Seton motto,

389, 393 ; other forms of, 394.
Helen, daughter of Alan, Lord of

Galloway, 210.

— daughter of Earl of Dunbar and
March, 23.

Henderson, Lady, 240.

— Sarah, 384.

Henricus, son of R. de Say-Picot,

11, 12.
Henry I., 20, (note) 264.
Henry II., charter of , 8, (note) 316.
Henry III., King of France, 16, 88,

93, 95-
Henry V., 52.
Henry VI., 226.
Henry, Hon. Charles Seton, 314.

— Guy, U.S.A., 314.

— Guy Vernor, 314.

— John Vernor, 314.

— Robert, 313.

— Sarah, 314.

Henry, Thomas Lloyd, 314.

— William Seton, 314.
Henryson (Henderson), James, 186.
Hepburn, Adam, founder of family,

(note) 66.

— Christian, wife of fourth Earl of
Winton, 115, 116.

— Colonel, (Scotch regiment in
France), 158.

— James, fourth Earl of Bothwell,
(note) 66.

— Lady Jane, 105.

— Lady Janet, wife of fifth Lord
Seton, 66.

— Lady Jeane, 144.

— Sir John, 158.

— John of Adiston, 116.

— origin of name, (note) 66.

— Sir Patrick, third Lord Hales,
created Earl of Bothwell, (note) 66.

Hepburns, Earls of Bothwell, 105.
Heraldic Exhibition, Catalogue of,

388.
Heraldry, 385, 387.
Heraldry, British and Foreign, (note)

3§9-
Heraldry of the Setons, Mr. Laing

on, 197, 385.
Herrevilla, 7, 8.
Herries, Lord John, 234.

— John, seventh Lord, 112, 148.
Herve Avenel, Baron of Biars, 7.
Herve (Herveius) Avenel, 8.
Herveii villa, 8.

Herveius (Herve) de Biars, 7.
Herveville, 8.

History, George Seton, 386.
Hobart, Rebecca Seton, 290.
Hoddeston, Bayleys of, 276.
Hodges, Caroline, 168.

— Walter- Parry, 168.
Hoffman, Dora, 265.

— Henrietta McTier, 265.

— Martinus, 297.

— Mary Gillon, 297.

— Nicholas, 297.

— Richard Curzon, 265.

— Samuel, 265.

— Samuel Curzon, 265.

— Sophia Latimer, 265.
Hoffmantown, 297.
Holbein, portrait by, 89.

Holt, Father William, studied at Ox-
ford, ordained priest, went to
Rome, joined Jesuits, 228, 229.

Holy Church and Her Thieves, 228.

4 16

INDEX.

Holyrood House, ioo ; keepershipof,
127 ; 164, igi, 196 ; charter of,
209 ; Abbey of, 211, 214.

Home, Alex., Lord, 161.

— Christian, 142.

— Earl of, (note) 142.

— Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander,
Lord Home, 161.

— Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George
Home of Wedderburn, 162.

— family, origin of, pronunciation of
name, (note) 142.

— Sir George, of Wedderburn, 162.

— Sir John, of North Berwick, 155.

— Sir John, of Renton, 142.
Hommet, 16 ; Lord of, 16 ; Castle

of, 17.
Honour of Say, 10.
Hope, Sir John, Bart., 83, 121.
Hopetoun, Earl of, 198.
Houghton, Lord, (Monckton Milnes,)

253, 254.
House of Commons, 244, (note)

244.
House of Lords, 49, (note) 244,

274.
Hughes, Archbishop, 325, 326, 331.
Hugolina, Lady, 15.
Hunt, Mary, 349.

— Thomas, 349.

Hunter, Alex., of Muirhouse, 163.

— Barbara, 163.

— James, of Seaside, 180. /

— James, of Thurston, iSi.

— "Margaret, 180.

— Patrick, of Newton Rires, 204.

— Robert, of Newton Rires, 204.

— Sarah-Elizabeth, 181.
Huntly, 191.

— and Home, Lords, commanding
force against English, 70.

— Earl of, (Alex. Seton created,) 50,

165, 396-

— Lewis, third Marquess of, 135.

— Marquess of, descent, 50; 113;
arms of, 395.

Hutchison, Misses, of Seton Lodge,
213.

— Captain George, 213, 293.

— Captain William, 213.

— tombstone of, 212.
Hutchisons, 213 ; of Seton Lodge,

crest of, 393.
Hutton, Laurence, quoted, 192.
Ilyndford, dowager Countess of,

(note) 156.

Ilk, of that, meaning of, 29.
Inchcolme Monastery, 10.
Independence, War of, (Scotland,)

182.
Inglis, James, (Edinburgh,) 150.
Innerpeffer, (note) 139.
Innes, Cosmo, {Scotland in Middle

Ages,) 10, 24.
Innes of Leuchars, 168.

— Margaret, wife of William Seton
of Meldrum, 168.

Innocent IV., Pope, confirms grants
to Monastery of St. James of War-
try, 28.

Inverugie, 42 ; Castle, 42.

Iona, 402.

Ireland, 3, 52 ; Scottish expedition
to, 36; 249, 257, (note) 286 ; inva-
sion of, (note) 316; 372. Premier
Baronetcy of, 173. Setons of,

273.
Irelande's regiment, 147.
Irish Parliament, 249.
Irvine of Drum, Sir Alexander, 196.
Irving, John, Knight of Malta, letter

to Pope Gregory, 88.

— Washington, quoted, 207, 297.
Isabel, Sir A. Seton (2) married, 41.

— Lady, of Clun, 14.

Jacob's tower, at Seton House, 108.

James I. of England (VI. of Scot-
land), 51, 88, 93, 95 ; visits Seton,
76 ; 105, 107, 127, 153, 158, 165,
191, 214, 225, 235.

— II. of England, 115, 135, 172.

— I. of Scotland, 211, (note) 239.

— II., 189.

— III., 144, 185.

— IV., 66, 151, 185, 188, 203, 206.

— V., 70, 71, 90; invited to Sorn
Castle, 72; 171.

Jameson, George, " Vandyke of Scot-
land," (note) 106.

Jane Seton (story by Grant), 184.

Janet, daughter of second Lord Se-
ton, 51.

— daughter of William, Master of
Seton, 53.

Jean, daughter of first Lord Seton,

50.
Jenkinson, John, 146.
Jerningham, Edward, 254.
Jesuits, 137 ; Roman College of, 123 ;

at Seton, 228.
Jevan ap Jorwaerth, 359.

INDEX.

417

Jevon, arms of, family of, origin of,

359-

— Sir Richard, of Sedgely Hall,

Stafford, 359.
Tevons, Ferdinand T. Roscoe, 359.

— Marguerite, 359.

— Reginald, 359.

— Thomas, 359. _

— Thomas, married Isabella Seton,

356.

— Thomas Seton (picture), 357; 359.

— Professor William Stanley, 356.
John, King of England, 17.

— XXII., Pope, letter to him signed
by Sir A. Seton (2), 38.

— Vicar of Tranent, 211.
Johns-ton, 21.
Johnstone, Elizabeth, 171.

— Laird of, 54.

— Sir Samuel, of Elphinstone, Bart.,
171.

Jordan, Archdeacon of the Cathedral,
16.

— Bishop of Lisieux, 16.

Karr, 207.

— John, of Kippilaw, 207.
Kedleston, (note) 264.

— Curzon of, 265.

Keith, Major, sheriff of the Mearns,
150.

— Sir Robert, 51.

— Sir William, 49.

Keiths, the, (note) 146 ; family of,
27 ; Earls Marischal of Scotland,

27-
Kellie, Margaret, 151.

— William, 152.
Kenmure, 306.

— Viscount, 117.
Kennedy, Alexander, 52.

— Catherine, 93, 95.

— Fergus, 52.

— Lord John, 50.

Kennet, Gen. Alex. Bruce of, 189.
Kennoway, village of, 178.
Ker, Andrew, of Kipplaw, 207.
Kerkettel, Agnes, 67.
Kerr, family of, 207.

— Lord Ralph, 214.
Kerr of Zair or Yair, 207.
Kilcreuch, Lord, 164.
Killiecrankie. battle of, 135.
King, James Gore, 350.

— Rufus, 350.
Kingask, lands of, 179.

Kinghorn, 206.

Ivinglass, lands of, 196.

" King's Chamber," Winton House,
108.

Kingston, first Viscount (Alex. Se-
ton), x, 100, (note) 112, 113, 114,
123, 128, 135 ; reads Latin oration
to Charles I., is knighted, goes to
France, to Italy, to Spain, 37 ; re-
turns to England, to Scotland, re-
tires to Holland, returns to Scot-
land, is excommunicated by Kirk
Assembly, retreats to France, re-
turns to Scotland, made' Lieut. -Col.
of Horse, 13S ; made Viscount,
compelled to surrender Tantallon
Castle, fights at Worcester, Pent-
land Hills, and Bothwell Brig,
marries, 139 ; 148, 152, 158.

— Archibald, second Viscount, 140.

— James, third and last Viscount,
ensign in Scottish fusiliers, ac-
cused of robbing the mail for po-
litical reasons, in the " rising " of
1715, his estates forfeited, flees
to the Continent, death, 140.

— family, heirs of, 140, 141.

— Viscounts, 106, 279 ; arms and
crest. 399.

Kinninmonth, Jane, 196.
Kinnoul, Earl of, 112.
Kippilaw, Seton-Karr of, 207.
Kipplaw, Andrew Ker of, 207.
Kirkbridge (picture), 251.
Kirkcaldy of Grange, 191.
Knolles, Sir Robert, 47.
Knyvet, family of, 244.
Kynnynmond, Cecilia, 177, 190.

— David, of that Ilk and Craighall,
177, 190.

— family of, 178.

— Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen,
17S.

Laing, Alex., antiquary, 149, (note)

185, 197, (note) 389.
Laird, meaning of, 191 ; Lairdship,

191.
Langeais, estate of, 53.
Langside, battle of, 87.
Langton, manor of, 183.
Lathallan, James Spens of, 203.

— Lady, 205.
Latham. Frances, 302.

Latherisk (Lathrisk), William of, 203.

— {pron. Larisse), 203.

4i8

INDEX.

Latherisk, Barony of, 203.

— and Balbirnie, Setons of, 202.

— of that Ilk, 202.

— Janet, 202, 203.

Latimer, Lord William, Seton estate,
Northumberland, conferred upon ;
taken prisoner at Bannockburn, 35.

Lauder, Sir John, Bart., 98.

— family of, 172.

— Sir John, of Fountainhall, Bart.,
172.

— Margaret, 172.

— of Poppill, 50.

— William, clerk of Session, 172.
Lauderdale, first Earl of, 132.

— Earls of, 65.

— famous peerage claim, (note) 166.
Law, James, of Brunton, 179.

— Margaret, 179.
Lawson, Richard, 186.

La Zouche, Sir Alan, of Ashby, 210.
Le Bouteiller, Charles, 53.
Le Compte or Le Conte, Susanna,
276.

— William, 276.
L'Engle, Mrs. Susan, 316.

Le Fleming, origin of name, (note)

316.
Le Sieur Avenel de Viars, 7.
Le Sieur Desbiars, 7.
Learmonth, David, Laird of Clatto,

207.

— family of, 207.

— Sir James, 207.
Learson, John, 235.
Legard, Colonel George, 260.
Lennox, Duke of, 89.

— first Earl of, 53.

— Earl of, (note) 239.
Lenox, Robert, 349.

Leo X., Pope, Bull of, 67, 359.
Les Biards, 7.
Lesley, Bishop, 128.

— Father John, 231.

— Father William Aloysius, 143.
Leslie, Anne, 174.

— Bishop, 395.

— George, 190.

— Helen, 190.

— of Rothes, 132.

— Norman, of Rothes, 51.
Leslies, family of, 190.
Lessay, Monastery of, 8.
Letheringset, Curzon of, (note) 265.
Lewis, Ann, 239.

— Lady Theresa, quoted, 253 ; 260.

Ligertwood, James, 173.

— Margaret, 173.

Lilias, daughter of Lord Drummorid,
132.

Lillok, lands of, 197.

Lindores, Abbey of, 35, 43, 185,
187, 218.

Lindsay, Lady Ann, (Viscount King-
ston marries,) 14c.

— Lord of Balcarres, 132.

— of the Byres, first Lord, 55.

— Lords, of the Byres, 188.

— Catharine, 188.

— Sir David, Register of, 400.

— Sir David, satirist, 65.

— Sir David, of Crawford, 188.

— Earl of, families of, origin of
name, 188 ; house of, 401.

— John, of Kirkforthar, 178.

— Margaret, of Woolmerston, 178.

— Patrick, fourth Lord of the Byres,
188.

— Patrick, of Woolmerston, 178.

— Earl of, and Lord Parbroath (1633),
198.

— Sir William (first of the Byres),
188.

— of Pitscandly, 178.

Eindsays, one of them made Earl of
Lindsay and (1633) Lord Par-
broath, 198.

Livingston, Lady Ann, 102.

— of New York, 240.

Loch Doon Castle (ruins), 30 ; de-
scription of, 33.

Lochleven Castle, flight of Queen
Mary from, 68 ; 84, 143, 183.

Lochwood, Castle of, 54.

London, Tower of, last Earl of Win-
ton escapes from, 76.

Lorillard, Mary, 298.

Lorn, Black Knight of, 187.

Lorraine, Duke of, 88.

— Mary of, 71.

Lucy, daughter of first Lord Seton, 50.
Luert a Seton, 47.
Lulworth, Welds of, 157.
Lummysden of Glengyruoch, 189.
Lumsden, Eliza-Henrietta, 173.

— Henry, of Cushney, 173 ; of that

Ilk, 173-

— old family in Aberdeenshire, 173.

— Thomas, of Airdrie, 189.
Lumsdens of that Ilk, 189.
Lyle, Lord (2), 55.

— Lord John, 50.

INDEX.

419

Macbeth, vindicated, 225.
McCioskey, Cardinal, 371.
Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles,

(note) 239.
Macduff, old cross of, clan law of,

117.
Mackenzie, 81.

— Sir George, 139.
McKlear, Margaret, 139.
MacLane, Louis, 265.
Macky, quoted, 116 ; 222.
MacNab betrays Sir C. Seton (3) to

English, 30.
Macnabston, price of MacNab's

crime, 33.
McNair, Julia, 314.
McNeill, (note) 211, (note) 212.
Magee, William, 273.
Maidment, James, (poem edited by,)

L3i.
Maitland, Ann, wife second Earl of
Winton, 107.

— Benjamin, 302.

— Bergwyne, ix.

— Colonel, 166.

— Club, History of House of Sevton,
61.

— James, 302.

— Sir John of Thirlestane, 132, 191.

— Rebecca Seton, 302.

— Sir Richard, author of Hist, of
House of Seytoun, x, 21, 23, 27, 34,
41, 44, 46, 48, 55, 66, 67, 70, 71,
74, 100, 139, 181.

— Richard, petition of, 166.

— (Seton, Maitland & Co.), 287, 288,
289.

— William, of Lethington, 65.

— William Seton, 302.
Malcolm III., Canmore, 20.
Malcolm IV., King, 8 ; called the

Maiden, 209.
Malise, seneschal of Strathearn, 187.
Mambrecht, Father James, 229.
Mandevilles (de Magnavil), Earls of

Essex, arms, origin of, 386.
Mann, Sir Horace, M.P., 274.

— James, 274.
Mans, 7.

Mansfield, Peerage of, 187.
Mansion House at Cragdon (picture),

367.

Manzeville, French ambassador so-
journs at Seton town house, 82.

Maormors of Angus, (note) 154.

Mar, Earl of, (note) 161.

Mar, Earl of, (and Lord Erskine,)
162.

— Earldom of, (note) 161.

Mar and Kellie, Earl of, peerage

dispute, (note) 161.
March, Earl of, daughter married

Lord Seton, 51.

— George, Earl of, 236.
Margaret, wife of Sir A. Seton (4),

44-

— daughter of Earl of Buchan, 25.

— daughter of first Lord Seton, 50.

— wife of Bruce, 29.

Marian, daughter of second Lord

Seton, 51.
Marion, daughter of first Lord Seton,

50.
Marischal, William, seventh Earl of,

112.
Marjory (of Buchan), 26.
Market, weekly, granted to Seton, 58.
Marquess, Premier, of Scotland

(Huntly), descent, 50.
Marriage, "casualty" of, (note) 182.
Mary, Queen of Scots (see Stuart,

Queen Mary).
" Master," as oldest son of baron,

origin of, 52.
Master of Kingston, 140.
Master of Seton, William, son and

heir of John, in victory of Bauge,

killed at battle of Verneuil, 52.
Matilda or Maud, daughter of Wal-

theof, 23.
Maud, daughter of Lord Topcliff, 27.
Maule, Marion, 164.

— Patrick, Earl of Panmure, 164.

— William, of Glaster, 164.
Maxwell, Elizabeth, second wife of

third Earl of Winton, 112.

— Elizabeth, daughter of seventh
Lord Herries, 148.

— William, 349.
Meldrum, arms, crest of, 396.
Meldrum and Byth, Urquhart of,

397-
Meldrum, Elizabeth, heiress of, 160.

— Laird of, (Sir John Seton,) 396.

— Setons of, 160.
Melrose Abbey, 8, 207, 386.
Melville, (note) 211.
Menteith, Earl of, 41.
Merse of Berwickshire, 50.
Mertrick, description of, 395.
Mestre, Bartholomew, (de St. Ger-

men,) 151.

420

INDEX.

Methven, battle of, 30.

Michel, Francisque, Ecossais en

France et Francois en Ecosse, 2C ;

45, 72 ; Civilization in Scot., 205.
Milanese Setons, arms of, 237.
Milnes, Richard Monckton, quoted,

254-
Minto, first Earl of, 240.

— Lord, 255.

Mission in Scotland (Jesuit), 231.

Moale, Elizabeth, 265, 355.

Moir, David Macbeth, poem, The

Ruins of Scion Chapel, 62.
Moncrieff, Lord, 240.
" Monk Seton," 28.
Monmouth, Duke of (at Bothwell

Bridge), 115.
Montgomerie, Alexander, (poet,) 106.

— Archibald -William, thirteenth
Earl of Eglinton, created Earl of
"Winton, 121.

— Lady Christian, 157.

— Lady Margaret, married to eighth
Lord Seton, 101 ; picture of, 103 ;
106.

— Lord, (Earl of Eglinton and Win-
ton,) 101.

— old arms of, 398 ; origin of, as
family name, 101.

Montrose, commander of Royal
forces (1645), in.

— Duke of, 10.

— Earl of, (Viceroy Scot., 1605,)
128.

— Marquess of (1646), 155.

— Marquess of, Great, 114.
'; Monture," meaning of, 205.
Moore, Amy Geraldine, 181.

— Dr. Richard Channing, (note) 291.
Moray, 187, 195.

— Earl of, (Lord James Stuart,) 83,
87.

— Francis, ninth Earl of, 195.

— James, of Abercairney, 157.

— (lands in), 122.

— Susan, 157.

Mordington, James, third Lord, 139.

— Mary, Baroness, 139.
More, Sir Antonio, 90, 91, 123.
Morpeth, Lord, 254.

Mortaine, Arrondissement of, Rob-
ert, Count of, 7 ; Count of, 8.
Morton, Earl of, (note) 66.

— seventh Earl of, 132.

Motto, meaning of in heraldry, 393 ;
use of, 394.

Mottoes, most in Latin, oldest in

Norman French, 394.
Mounie, 174 ; Lairds of, arms, 395.
Mount St. Mary's College, 329, 330,

35o,_355, 359> 360.
Muirhouse, 163.
Muratori, (note) 112.
Murray, Colonel, Royal Engineers,

306.

— Euphemia, 165.

— family of, founder of, origin of
name, 187.

— Helen, 187.

— Rosalie, 306.

— Sir Robert, of Priestfield, 165.

— Sir William, of Tullibardine, 187.

— Sir William, Captain Edinburgh
Castle, 44.

Musselburgh, 66 ; old bridge of, 83 ;
107.

Nairn, Baron, 117.
Napier, John, 128.
Napiers, mansion of Wrrychtshouses

passed to, 45.
Newark, first Bishop of, (Bayley,)

276.

— Seton of, 235.
Newbattle, Abbot of, 57.

— Abbey, 149, 211, 217.
Nevvburgh, burgesses of , 187, 198.
Newhaven, Viscount of, 42.
Newton, Margaret, 239.

— Sir Robert, 239.

Niddrie, Marischal, lands of, (note)
146, 147.

Niddry Castle, 68 ; picture of ruins,
69 ; 84, 96.

Nisbet, 115, (note) 116, 152, 153.

Nisbet, Alex., writer on heraldry, ac-
count of Seton family, 45 ; 65 ; on
Lord Seton's portrait, 74 ; 387, 400.

Nithsdale, Earl of, 117.

— Earls of, 234.
Nonant, Barons of, 276.
Norfolk, Duke of, 214.

— Dukes of, 14.

Norman annals, I ; barons, blood, 3 ;
nobles, 4 ; records, 6 ; exchequer
rolls of, 10 ; adventurers in Scot-
land, 19.

Normans, 1, 5, 13, 15, 22 ; move-
ment of into Scotland, 102.

Norse names, 3.

North, Lord, 274.

Northrig, Setons of, 65.

INDEX.

421

Norths, in Baltimore, (note) 266.
Northumberland, Duchess of , 254.
Norway, Royal House of, 1 ; 191,

230.
Nova Scotia, Baronet of, 219.

— Baronet of, (Sir Alex. Seton of
Pitmedden,) 171.

— Baronet of, (Sir Walter Seton of
Abercorn,) 165.

— Baronet of, George Suttie, (note)
156.

Octavians, 127 ; why so called, (note)

127.
Oderellus, 12.
O'Ferral Buoy, 155.
Ogden, Gertrude Gouverneur, 306.

— Gouverneur, 305, ^06.

— Henry, of N. Y., ix, xi, 298.

— Henry Vining, ix.

— Henry Vining, Jr., M.D., 306.

— John, 305.

— Mary Seton, 306.

— Mr., 289.

— Richard, 305.

— Sarah, 297.

Ogilvie, Father John (Jesuit), 229.

— Lord (1628), 230.
Ogilvy, Baron, of Banff, 71.

— Beatrix, 171.

— family, derived from, (note) 154.

— George, 71.

— Isabella, 155.

— James, fourth Lord, (note) 154.

— Janet, 174.

— Sir John, of Lintrathen, 50.

— Lord (1588), 154.

— fifth Lord of Airlie, 174.
— ■ sixth Lord, (note) 154.

— of Powrie, 155.

— Sir Walter, of Dunlugus, 71, 171.
Olefer, Walter, 24.

Oliphant, Bernard, 204.

— of Gask, 204.

— Henry, 205.

— Lord, 204.

— Thomas, 205.

— Sir William, of Aberdalgie, 204.
Olivestob, derivation of name, 149.

— estate of, passes to Hamiltons, 150.
Olney, Charles, N. Y., ix.
Orford, Earl of, 250.

— Lord, 260.
Orkney, Earl of, 195.
Orton, Emma, 167.
Otterburn, battle of, 45, 46.

Paisley, Lord of, 94, 96.

Palace of Seton, 76 ; so called in

Royal grants, 122 ; 222.
Palgrave, Sir Francis Turner, quoted,

1, 8.
Palme, Edward, 11.
Palmer, Augusta, 350.

— William Lambe, 350.
Panmure, Earldom of (1646), Maules

of, 164.
Papists, Privy Council proclamation

for list of, 146.
Parbroath, founder of line of, 43 ;

pronunciation and meaning, 182 ;

188, 197 ; house of, description

and ruins of, 198 ; 201, 206, 207 ;

line of, 239 ; 240, 359 ; Seton of,

391 ; arms of, 400, 401.

— clump of trees and broken arch
(picture), 199.

Paris, University of, 56.

Parliament of Scotland, records of,

177-
Parrish, Sarah Redwood, 360.
Paul II., Pope, brief of , 56.
Pearson, Byrd, 317.

— Floride Lydia, 317.

Peebles, assize court at, 158.

Pembroke, Earl of, (Aylmer de Va-
lence,) defeats Bruce at Methven,
30.

Percy, Ingelram, 27.

— family, 27.

— Lady, 253.

— Lord, 27, 250, 295.
Perrymount, James Seton of, 237.
Persone, Adam, 213.

Perth, first Earl of, 105.

— Lady, 105.

Philiphaugh, battle of, III.
Philorth, P'raser of, 47.
Picot, 5, 6.

— Roger, 12.

— the Pikeman, 5.
Pictish settlement, 202.

Picts, 22 ; Coilus or Coil, King of,
(note) 102 ; houses of, 184.

Pillepot, G., 12.

Pinkerton, engraver of Seton group,
90.

Pinkie, 83, 128 ; battle of, 185 ; 190,
217.

— House, 74, 121 ; picture, 129 ; in-
scription at, 365.

Pitcairn, Dr. Archibald, 184.

— David, of that Ilk, 184.

422

INDEX.

Pitcairn, David, son of Pitcairn of
Forthir, 190.

— family of, derivation of name, 184.

— of Forthir, igo.

— of that Ilk, 184, 188.

— Isabella, 188.

— Major, 184 ; killed at Bunker Hill,
185.

— Marion, 184, 185, 202.

— Robert, Commendator of Dunferm-
line, 184.

Pitmedden, lands of, 171 ; Baronets
of, arms of, 395.

— Lord, 98.

Pius II., Pope, 25.

— IX., Pope, 211, 355,356-
Platts and Jewett, families of, xii.
Pluscardin, Priory of, 124, 398.
Pluscardyn Priory, foundation of, 10.
Poole, Reginald S., British Museum,

ix, 72.
Port Seton, 106, 115.
Porter, Benjamin, 302.

— Captain, 337.

— Catharine, 302.

— Dorothy Dwight, 302.

— Francis Dwight, 302.

— Henry Hobart, Jr., 302.

— Margaret Seton, 302 ; Margaret
Seton (picture), 305.

— Robert Hobart, 302.

— Seton, 302.
Poultney, Eugene, 266.

— Samuel, 266.

— Thomas, 266.

— Walter-Curzon, 266.

Preston, battle of, 116, 147; surren-
der at, 156.

— derivation of name, 149.

— and Ekolsund, Setons of, 236.

— Hamilton of, 50, 219.

— of Whitehill, 55.
Prestonpans, (note) 114, 149.
Prime arms, 349.

Prime, Cornelia, 349.

— Emily, 345 ; picture of (Mrs. Wm.
Seton), 375.

— Colonel Frederick, 350.

— Mark, 345, 346.

— Nathaniel (picture), 343 ; 345, 346,

349-

— of Rowley, Mass., family of, xii.

— Richard, J. P., D.L. and M.P.,
346.

— Rufus, 349 ; death, 350.

— Sir Samuel, Kt., 346.

Prime, Samuel, father of Sir Samuel,
346.

— Temple, xii, 350.

Prime, Ward & King, bankers, 346.
Privy seal, Register of, 65 ; 189, 196.
Protestant religion, establishment of,

in Scotland, 90.
Provoost, Dr. Samuel, 275 ; first Prot.

Epis. Bishop in N. Y., 278.
" Provost of Seton," 56.
Pyeris,Lady Mary, 71.

Queensberry, Earl of, 219.

— Marquess of (present), title, 219.
Quincy, family of, derivation of, 23.

Ragman Rolls, 151, 203, (note) 218.
" Raid of Ruthven," 162.
Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie, 45.

— Elizabeth, of Parbroath, 182.
Ramsay-Forthir, lands of, 197.
Ramsay, Sir James, of Benholm, 155.

— Sir Nicholas, of Parbroath, 182.

— Sir William, friend of Bruce, 182.

— of Dalhousie, 48.

Ramsays, renowned Scotch family,

182.
Rebellion of 1715, 189.
Red Comyn, killing of, by Bruce, 34.
Reformation, the, 58, 76, (note) 211,

226.
Register of Acts and Decreets, 189,

190, 192.
Reid-Seton, Miss, of Leyton, 150.
Renton, tower of, Berwickshire,

(note) 142.
Revolution (16S9), 135, 231.

— (Amer.), 234, 240, 243, 255, (note)
277, 312.

Revolutionary war (Amer.), 256,

(note) 258 ; 377.
Ricard's Castle, 15.
Richard the Good, 1.
Richmond and Gordon, Duke of,

descent, 50 ; arms, 391, 395.
Ripley, Dorothy-Alice-Seton, 167.

— Henry (son of Sir H. W. Ripley,
Bart.), 167.

— Henry-Edward, 167.

— Sir Henry-William, Bart., M.P.,
167.

— Marian-Jeannette, 167.

— Phoebe-Elizabeth, 167.
Rising of 1715, 116, 140.

— of 1745, 234.

INDEX.

423

Robert (Robertus), Abbot, Seez, 11.

— Count of Mortaine, 7.

— son of Earl of Atholl, (note) 239.
Robert I., grant to town of Seton, 58 ;

39°-

— II., 41, 50, 54, io2, 390.

— sixth Duke of Normandy, 11.
Robertson, Captain George, R.N.,

239, 240.

— origin of name, (note) 239.

— of Struan, (note) 239.

— Dr. William, 239.

Robertus, Alius Garini Pillepot, 11.

— f rater Radulphi presb., 12.

— son of R. de Say, Picot, 11, 12.
Roebuck, Mary, 306.
Rogerius, Comes, 12.

Rolland, Margaret, 171.

— William, Master of Mint, 171.
Rollo, 1, 5, 7, 12, 27.
Roosevelt, Grace, 277.

— Helen, 277.

Roper, Henry-Francis, 266.
Roscoe, Sir Henry, M.P., 359.
Ross, alias of Father Alex. Seton (2),
230.

— Maormor of, 222.
Rossie, Bonars of, 204.
Rosslyn, Sir O. St. Clair of, 56.

— Sinclair of, 48.

Rothes, 51, 132 ; Barony of, 190.

— fourth Earl of, 190.

Roundle near Seton House, meaning

of word, 107 ; picture of, 108.
Roxburgh, Countess of, 98.
Royal Pressure, 389, 390, 395, 401.
Rumgavie, Setons of, 185.

Saher or Secher, son of Robert de

Quincy, 209.
Saher de Say, Robert, 20.
Saie, 13.

Sai and Seye, 10.
Saier, 22.
St. Clair, John, 52.

— Sir Oliver, of Rosslyn, 56.

— Sir William, of Herdmanston, 49.
Saint Germains, lands of, derivation

of name, 151.
Saint Joseph's (Emmittsburg), 281,
294, 319, 322, 325.

— Sisterhood, 309, 310, 330.

— Sisterhood in 1810 (picture), 307.
St. Liz, Lord, 226.

Saint Margaret, Convent of (near
the Sciennes), 68.

Saint Martin's (Seez), 7, 11 ; charter

of, 14.
Saint Memin, collection of portraits,

267.
Saint Pierre-aux-Dames (Rheims),

98.
Saltoun, Lord (Lawrence Abernethy),

47-

Sampson's Hall, inscription on win-
dow of, by Queen Mary, 84.

Sandiland, Barbara, of Saint Monans,
204.

Sandilands, Sir James, 228.

Sands, the, 349.

— Comfort, xii, 346.

— Mrs. Comfort, 349.

— Cornelia, 345, 346 ; (picture),

347- ,

— family, 346.

— Captain James, 346, 349.
Sandys, Lord, of the Vine, 346.
Sanquhar, Lord Crichton of, 163.
Sapienza, University of, 355.
Say, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20.

— Lord of, (Osmeline Avenel,) 7.
Say and Brook, Lords, 18.
Saybrook, Conn., 18.

Save and Sele, Lord, 17.

Sayers, 22.

Sayher, Lord of Tranent, created
Earl of Winchester, sets out for
Crusade, 37.

Says, 14 ; English, Scottish, 17 ; 19 ;
origin, 386 ; arms of, 387.

Say-ton, 20.

Say-touns, 387.

Say tun (dwelling of Say), 20.

Scarsdale, Baron, 265.

Schomberg, Sir Alexander, 258.

Sciennes, the, 65 ; destroyed at the
Reformation, 67, 68.

Scotland, independence recognized by
Holy See, 38 ; English raid into,
46 ; 56 ; Premier Peers of, 72 ; 76,
87, 90, 93, 95 ; Barons of, 186 ;
Lord Chancellor of, 191, 192 ;
Kirk of, 195 ; Hereditary Standard
Bearer,, 196 ; 216, 218, 225 ; Grand
Prior of, 228 ; banner of, 396.

Scots, Mary, Queen of (see Stuart,
Queen Mary).

Scott, " Aunt," 321.

— James, 283.

— Mrs. Julia, 281, 288, 326.

— of Scotstarvet, 105, 192.

— Sir W., 82, 84; describes Seton

424

INDEX.

picture group, 90; 105, 118, 183,
205, 213.
Scottish peerage, 19 ; court, 20 ;
churches (old), schools attached to,
56 ; rebellion (1639), in ; exiles in
Rome, 118; heraldry, 390; arms,

393-
Scringer, alias of Father Alexander

Seton (3), 231.
Scrope, Richard, 15.
Scrymgeour, Jean, 196.

— Sir John, of Dudhope, 196.

— Magdalen, 196.

— Mary, 196.
Scrymgeour-Wedderburn of Wedder-

burn and Birkhill, 196.
Seal, earliest of Seton family, 388.
Sears, 22.
Seaton, Dorothy, (Seaton's Ferry,

Va.,) 147.

— Henry, 147.

— William Winston, 147.
Seaton-Schroeder, Commander,

U.S.N., 147.
Secher, 22.

Seez, 7, 11, 16 ; Diocese of, 10.
Sempill, Anne, Baroness, 235.
Semple or Sympil (now Sempill),

Sir John, (note) 156.
Semple, Colonel, 231.

— John, of Balgone, (note) 156.

— Marion, (note) 156.

Set-on (application of name), 145.
Seton, 19, 20, 24, 106, 229, 399.
Seton, Adam, of Italy, 236.

— Agnes, wife of William, tenant in
Seton, 212.

— Agnes, daughter of John Seton of
Balfour, 206.

— Alexander, dominus de Meldritm ,
160.

— Sir Alexander (1337), 389.

— Alexander, in French wars, 52.

— Alexander, Governor of Berwick
( astle, 279.

— Alexander, married daughter of
Lord Lindsay of Byres, 401.

— Alexander, son of John, Master
of Seton, 55.

— Father Alexander (1), 230.

— Father Alexander (2), alias Ross,
230.

— Father Alexander (3), alias or vere
Scringer, 231.

— Sir Alexander, seal of, 12 16 (pic-
ture), 386.

Seton, Sir Alexander, 1320, seal of,
388.

— Sir Alexander, son of first Lord
Seton, married Elizabeth Gordon,
49 ; created Lord of Parliament as
Lord Gordon, 50 ; 160.

— Sir Alexander (3) succeeds his
father ; made captain of Berwick,
41, 42 ; witness to Balmerino Char-
ter, safe conduct to England, his
dagger, died, buried in parish
church of Seton, 43 ; 144 ; 181.

— Sir Alexander, Knight (4), 43 ;
marries Margaret Murray, dies,

44 ; 181.

— Sir Alexander (a fifth mentioned),

45-

— Alexander, son of seventh Lord,
83, 90, 93, 95 ; created Earl of Dun-
fermline, 94 ; 96, 153, 204 ; public
funeral, 219 ; Chancellor of Scot-
land, 225 ; 398 ; arms (picture), 399.

— Alexander, Physician to the
Forces, 172.

— Sir Alexander, of Abercorn, fifth
Bart., 166, 167.

— Alexander, son of Sir Walter, first
Baronet of Abercorn, 236.

— Alexander, son of Sir John Seton
of Barnes (II.), 155.

— Alexander, son of George Seton
of Cariston (IV.), 178.

— Sir Alexander, of Foulstruther,
sixth Earl of Eglinton, 101, 398.

— Alexander, of Graden, 164.

— Alexander, son of Alexander,
Lord Gordon, created Earl of
Huntly, 50, 161, 396.

— Alexander, Lord of Gordon and
Earl of Huntly (1450), 397.

— Sir Alexander, of Kilcreuch, 162 ;
made Lord of Session, knighted,
164.

— Alexander, first Viscount Kings-
ton (see KINGSTON, FIRST VIS-
COUNT).

— Alexander, son of first Viscount
Kingston, 140.

— Alexander, of Lathrisk, killed in
German wars, 205.

— Alexander, of Mounie (IV.), 174,

175-

— Alexander, of Mounie (V.), 174 ;
lost at sea, 176.

— Alexander-David (now), of Mounie
(VII.), 176.

INDEX.

425

Seton, Alexander, grandson of fourth
Lord, founded Setonsof Northrig,

65-

— Alexander, second Baron of Par-
broath, 183, 184.

— Alexander, fourth Baron of Par-
broath, 185, 1S6, 187, 188.

— Alexander, son of Sir Alexander,
fourth Baron of Parbroath, 187.

— Alexander, Younger, of Parbroath,
187, 188.

— Alexander, son of James, of Per-
rymount, 237.

— Sir Alexander, of Pitmedden,
Bart., 98.

— Sir Alexander, of Pitmedden, first
Bart., knighted by Charles II.; M.
P. for Aberdeen, Lord of Session,
171, 172, 174.

— Sir Alexander, of Pitmedden, third
Baronet, 172.

— Sir Alexander, Laird of Touch (I.)
and Tullibody, Hereditary Armour
B.earer, marries Lady Erskine ;
death, 161, 165.

— Sir Alexander, of Touch (II.),
killed at Flodden, 161.

— Sir Alexander, " Grey Steel," son
of first Earl of Winton, 102.

— Alexander, son of third Earl of
Winton, 112.

— Alfred (1), New York, 297, 298.

— Alfred, grandson of Alfred of
New York, 298.

— Andrew, son of Alexander,
Younger, of Parbroath, 188.

— Andrew, of Barnes, 312, 313,
316.

— Andrew, son of Sir David, sev-
enth of Parbroath, 196.

— Andrew, son of Sir George of
Garleton, second Bart., 146, 147.

— Andrew, of New York and Flor-
ida, 390.

— Andrew and Margaret, 157.

— Mrs. Andrew, 285.

— Andrew (of New York), 254, 255.

— Andrew, sixth Baron Parbroath,
189, 190.

— Ann, daughter third Earl of Win-
ton, 113.

— Anna, daughter of Seton of St.
Germains (II.), 152.

— Anna-Maria, daughter of William,
Rep. of Parbroath (III.), 267.

— Anna-Maria, daughter of Wil-

liam, Rep. of Parbroath (IV.), 281,
282, 285, 287, 293, 294, 295, 318,
319, 322, 330.
Seton, Anne, daughter of Seton of
Barnes (V.), 156.

— Anne, wife of William-Dick, of
Grange, 172.

— Sir Archibald, of Pitmedden, fifth
Bart., 172.

— Archibald, of Touch (X.), 163.
Seton arms, on stone of Wrychts-

houses, 45, 213, 221, 262, 314,
386; changes in, 389; 397, 398;
later (picture), 390.
Seton, Barbara, daughter of Sir
George of Garleton, second Bart.,
146.

— Barbara, daughter of John (II.),

254-

— Barbara, daughter of first Vis-
count Kingston, 140.

— Barbara, sister of William, of
New York, 166.

— Barbara, " Bab," 254, 255.
Seton Bay, 209.

Seton of Barnes, 390.

Seton of Barnes, Sir John, 191.

Seton, Beatrix, 71.

— Bertram, 179.
Seton Brook, 377.

Seton, Bruce, son of Seton of Aber-
corn, fifth Bart., 167.

— Bruce-Hugh, 167.

— Bruce-Maxwell, of Abercorn ,
eighth and present Bart., 168 ; pic-
ture of, 169.

Seton Cairn, Edinburgh, 68.
Seton, Captain of Kennoway, 17S.
Seton of Cariston, George, great-
grandson of sixth Lord Seton, 197.

— Isabella, 197.

Seton Castle, Froissart at, 48 ; flags
of ship Eagle preserved at, 65 ;
burned by the English, 70, 73 ;
raised by Mackenzie (picture), 81 ;
leased by William Dunlop, 83, 387,
400.

Seton, Catharine, daughter of Chris-
topher of Cariston (V.), 17S.

— Catharine, daughter of fourth
Lord, enters convent, 65.

— Catharine, daughter of James
Seton (2), 157.

— Catharine (Mrs. Coventry), 68.

— Mother Catharine (picture), 323 ;
325, 326.

426

INDEX.

Seton, Catharine, of New York, 174.

— Catharine, daughter of William,
Rep. of Parbroath (IV.), 295, 302,

325, 329, 330, 334, 337, 342.

— Cecilia, 268, 285, 294, 309, 310,
311, 312, 334.

Seton Chapel, 76, marble slab, Latin

epitaph, 94, 214.
Seton, Charles, son of Andrew, of

Barnes, 314 ; picture, 315, 316.

— Charles, son of Sir John, of Barnes

(II.), 155-

— Charles, son of first Viscount

Kingston, 140.

— Charles, of Sandymount, 238.

— Charles Compton, 15.

— Charles Compton, Lieutenant
Royal Engineers, 167.

— Charles Fraser, 316.

— Sir Charles-Hay, of Abercorn,
seventh Bart., 168.

— Charles-Henry, 167.

— Charlotte, daughter of Andrew,
of Barnes, 314.

— Charlotte, daughter of William,
Rep. of Parbroath (III.), 268, 286,
302.

— Christian, daughter of Andrew,
sixth Baron of Parbroath, 189, 190.

— Christian, daughter of John Bail-
lie, of Tranent, 55.

— Christian, daughter of third Lord,

55;

— Sir Christopher, 222.

— Sir Christopher (2), friend of Wal-
lace, 28.

— Christopher, of Cariston (V.), 178,

179-

— Christopher, son of Christopher
of Cariston (V.), 178.

— Sir Christopher (3), Good Sir
Chrysiell, knighted by Bruce ; mar-
ries sister of Bruce, 29 ; captured
by English ; rescues Bruce, 30 ;
eulogy of in poem, Life of Robert
Bruce ; executed by English ; his
widow erects chapel to his mem-
ory, 33 ; inscription by Major
James Adair on Memorial to ; men-
tion in Scott's Lord of the Isles,
34 ; family estates in England con-
fiscated, 35, 144, 390.

— Christopher, son of George, of
( 'ariston (VI.), 179.

— Christopher, son of George, of
Cariston (VII.) ; served in Ameri-

can war, 179 ; accused by Cobbett,
180.
Seton, Christopher, a priest and vicar
of Strathmiglo, 203.

— Christopher, son of third Earl of
Winton, 113.

— Church, ruined, 57 ; view of, 59 ;
last burial in, present proprietor,
61 ; poem on by Moir, 62 ; view
of interior, 63, 67 ; injured by Eng-
lish, 70, 83 ; Protestant worship
never in, 101, 148, 159.

— College Kirk of, 154, 159.

— Collegiate Church of, 56 ; ruins
of described, 57, 58, 106, 144.

— Colonel, of Brookheath, 68,

157.

— Colonel, with Gustavus Adolphus,
236.

— Crest (picture), 390, 398.

— David (time of James I. Eng.),
214.

— David, son of Alexander, of
Mounie (IV.), 174.

— David, son of Alexander, Young-
er, of Parbroath, 188.

— David, brother of Andrew, sixth
Baron of Parbroath, 1S9.

— David, Brigadier, Scots Guards,

54-

— David, Burgess of Burntisland,
207.

— David, Chamberlain to Lord Se-
ton, 216.

— David, son of Captain David Se-
ton, 196.

— Captain David, son of Sir David,
seventh of Parbroath, 196.

— David, dookit of (picture), 215.

— David, of Mounie (VI.), linguist
and traveller, 176.

— Sir David, seventh Baron of Par-
broath, 190, 191, 192, 193, 195.

— David, nephew of Captain Pat-
rick, of Lathrisk, 205.

— David, priest, Rector of Fetter-
cairn and Balhelny, 185 ; anecdote
of, 186, 187.

— David, Grand Prior of Scotland,
227, 228.

— David, son of William, of Rum-
gavie, 185.

— Daniel of Powderhall, 207.
" Seton Delavell," 28.
Seton, E. A. (picture), 303.

— Edward, son of William, Rep. of

INDEX.

4^7

Parbroath (HI.), 268, 286, 301,
302, 307.
Seton, Elizabeth, educated at Sacre-
Cai/r, Paris, 356.

— Elizabeth, marries Alexander Dun-
lop, 83.

— Elizabeth, daughter of first Vis-
count Kingston, 140, 141.

— Elizabeth, daughter of John of
Lathrisk (II.), 203.

— Elizabeth, daughter of Sir David,
seventh of Parbroath, 197.

— Elizabeth, daughter of John, Rep.
of Parbroath (IE), 250.

— Elizabeth, wife of John, Rep. of
Parbroath (IE), (picture), 241 ; 243,
312.

— Elizabeth, daughter of William,
Rep. of Parbroath (III.), 268,
302.

— Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Alex-
ander of Pitmedden, first baronet,
172.

— Elizabeth of Touch, daughter of
James (XL), 163.

— Elizabeth, daughter of third Earl
of Winton, 112.

— Elizabeth (married John Ur-
quhart), 160.

— Elizabeth A., wife of William Se-
ton, Rep. of Parbroath (IV.), 271,
273, 277; picture of, 278 ;28i, 284,
285, 286, 288, 289, 290, 292, 294,
306, 309, 310, 311, 318, 319, 321,
322, 326, 330, 331, 333, 334, 337,

338.

— Emily, educated at Sacre'-Ccear,
Paris ; photograph from Pius IX.,
356.

— Emma-Alice, 167.

— Ensign, 234.

— Essays (note), 4 ; 82.

— Euphemia, 163.

— family, architectural works of,
S3 ; Christian names in, 198, 235,
236 ; miniatures of, 387, 388 ; the
Tranent, connected with, 209, 216.

— Family Tree, 388.

— of Fallsyde, James, 219.

— of Falside, 216.

— probably a female barony, 122.

— George, advocate, xi.

— George, third Lord Seton, 52 ; suc-
ceeds to title as a minor, seized by
Sir W. Crichton, liberated through
Laird of Johnstone, goes on em-

bassy to France and Burgundy,
marries Lady Margaret Stewart,
54 ; dies at Edinburgh, 55 ; 144,
18S, 390.
Seton, George, fourth Lord, his love of
learning, 55 ; studies at Universi-
ties of St. Andrew's and Paris,
devoted to physical science, hence
mentioned as necromancer in curi-
ous Scotch pedigree; joins " Bands
of Friendship," built Winton
House, built Collegiate Church of
Seton, 56 ; 57, 58 ; captured by
Dunkirkers, ransomed at great
cost, 62 ; bought ship Eagle from
King of Scotland, married Lady
Margaret Campbell, his sons and
daughters, 65 ; skilled in music, 66.

— George, fifth Lord, 65 ; completed
portions of Seton House, 66 ; died
at Flodden, 67.

— George, sixth Lord, succeeds his
father (1513), repairs Niddry Cas-
tle, 68 ; married twice, 71 ; in
military command w i t h Lords
Huntly and Home ; intrusted with
the keeping of Card. Beton ; died
(1549), buried in Seton Church, 70,
176, 197.

— George, seventh Lord, 66, 6S, 70 ;
Maitland's book dedicated to him ;
marries Isabel Hamilton, 71 ; elect-
ed Provost of Edinburgh ; sup-
presses riot, 73 ; negotiated mar-
riage between Queen Mary and
Francis ; estates ravished by Eng-
lish ; loyalty of, 93, 94 ; commis-
sioner at marriage of Mary Stuart ;
present from Francis II.; at Queen
Elizabeth's court ; brought first
coach to Scotland ; goes to France
to accompany Queen Mary to Scot-
land, 73 ; member of Privy Coun-
cil and Master of the Household ;
Knight of Order of Thistle, 74 ;
high sense of honor, 83 ; loyalty
of ; rescue of Queen Mary from
Lochleven Castle, 84 ; wounded
and captured at battle of Langside ;
imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle ;
exiled to Flanders, 87 ; trouble
with Alva ; returned to Scotland ;
untiring friend of Queen and Cath-
olic cause ; sent ambassador to
France ; letter to Pope Gregory,
88, 89 ; miniature of, sold ; por-

428

INDEX.

traits of, and lady ; death, epitaph
by son, 90 ; 93, 95, 100, 123, 124,
131, 153, 158.
Seton, George, author of work on Her-
aldry (note), 390.

— George (Memoir by, in 1882, of
Lord Chancellor Seton), 131; 152,
177, 386.

— George, scholar and antiquarian,
67 ; erects cairn at Morningside,
"Saint Bennet's," 63.

— Sir George, second Baronet, 142 ;
marries, 146.

— George (son of Seton of Abercorn,
third Baronet), 166.

— Bailie George, inscription on
tombstone, 212 ; tomb (picture),
213.

— George, of Barnes, titular Earl of
Dunfermline, 117.

— George, of Barnes (III.), 155.

— Sir George, of Barnes (V. and
last), proclaims the Pretender, sur-
renders at Preston, sells lands of
Barnes, 156.

— George, of Cariston (II.), 177.

— George, of Cariston (IIP), 177,
190.

— George, of Cariston (IV.), 150,
177 ; at Bothwell Bridge, 178.

— George, of Cariston (VI.), 178,
179.

— George, of Cariston (VII.), 179,
180.

— George, of Cariston (VIII.), 179 ;
sold Cariston, 180.

— George (IX.), 180.

— George (X.), present Rep. of Car-
iston, 180, 1S1.

— George, son of Charles and Ma-
tilda Sibbald, 316.

— Sir George, of Garleton, Bart.,
117.

— Sir George, of Garleton, third Bar-
onet, in "rising," 1715 ; prisoner
at Preston, amnestied, dies in
France ; Garleton baronetcy ends,

147-

— George, son of George Seton (X.),
181.

— George, son of John, Master of
Seton, 55.

— George, son of first Viscount
Kingston, 140.

— George, Younger, of Lathrisk
(IV.), 204, 205.

Seton, George, nephew of Captain
Patrick, of Lathrisk, 205.

— George, founder of Setons of
Mounie, 172.

— George, of Mounie (I.), 174.

— Mrs. George (died 1798), 273.

— Sir George, of Parbroath, 178 ;
snuff-box of (picture), 378 ; arms
of (picture), 401.

— Sir George, eighth and last Baron
of Parbroath, 195, 197 ; seal of ;
occupied premises in the Rectory
of Dysart ; married Jean Sinclair,
daughter of third Lord Sinclair ;
married Isabella, daughter of
George Seton of Cariston ; death
of his son, James ; estate sold to
the Lindsays (1633) ; 198.

— George, of St. Germains (III.),
line ends with him, 152.

— George, son of William Seton (3),
350.

— George, third Earl of Winton,
229.

— George, Lord, son of third Earl
of Winton, III, 112 ; married,
113 ; death, 114.

— George (claimant to Winton peer-
age), 121.

— George Robert, 398.

— Georgina-Robina, 398.

— Gilbert, priest ; died in Rome,
185.

— Sir Gilbert, third Baron of Par-
broath, 184, 185, 186, 202.

— Gilbert, Younger, of Parbroath,
189.

— and Gordon Arms, 396, 397.

— Grizel, 150.

— Hall College, 355, 356.

— and Halyburton, arms, seen by
Nisbet, 45.

— Helen (or Eleanor), daughter of
sixth Lord, marries Lord Somer-
ville, 71.

— Helen, Order of Mercy, 365.

— Henrietta, 132.

— Henrietta or Harriet, daughter of
Wra. Seton, Rep. of Parbroath,
268, 286, 294, 309, 310, 319.

— Henry (picture), 351.

— Sir Henry, of Abercorn, third
Bart., 165, 166.

— Sir Henry, of Abercorn, fourth
Bart., 166.

— Captain Sir Henry, Bart., 254.

INDEX.

429

Seton, Sir Henry, of Culbeg, Bart.,

141.

— Henry, father of George Seton
(IX.), 180.

— Henry, Lieutenant U.S.N., 267,
287.

— Henry, Major U.S. Army, 350 ;
military service in America, 355.

— Sir Henry -John of Abercorn,
sixth Baronet, served in Peninsular
war ; groom-in-waiting to Queen
Victoria ; died unmarried (1868),
167.

— Homestead, 378.

— House, account of, 75 ; gardens
and orchards of ; stronghold of
Catholics during the Reformation ;
hiding place for priests, 76 ; front
view, 77 ; rear view, 79 ; pur-
chased by York Co., 81, 107, 108 ;
emblem carved on tablet, 108 ; in-
scription on tablet, in, 213.

— House of, Standard-bearers of,
116, 213, 398.

— Isabel, daughter of Sir J. Seton, of
Barnes (II.), 155.

— Isabel, daughter of first Earl of
Dunfermline, 132.

— Isabel, daughter of first Viscount
Kingston, 140.

— Lady Isabel, daughter of eighth
Lord, 101.

— Isabella, daughter of George Se-
ton of Cariston (III.), 177.

— Isabella, daughter of John (II.),
243, 244.

— Isabella (Lady Cayley), 264.

— Isabella, daughter of Alex. Seton
of Mounie (IV.), 174.

— Isabella, daughter of Andrew of
Barnes, 313.

— Isabella, educated at SacrJ-Cceur,
356.

— Isabella, daughter of first Earl of
Winton (picture), 103 ; 105, 106.

— James (I.), (settled in London),
239, 240.

— Father James, S. J., 127, 128,
230.

— James (I.), son of Seton of Barnes
(V.), Governor of St. Vincent,
W.I., petitions for title of Earl of
Dunfermline, 156 ; dies in London,

157-

— James, son of George of Cariston

(VI.), 179-

Seton, Colonel James, founder of
Montgomeries of Coyisfield, 102.

— James, of Drogheda, Ireland, 384.

— James, of Edinburgh, 295.

— James, son of Sir George, of Garle-
ton, second Bart., 147.

— James (2), son of James, Governor
of St. Vincent, marries Margaret
Findlater, 157.

— James, of Hillside, 243.

— James, of Italy, 236.

— James, son of John (Town Clerk),

243-

— James, son of John Seton, of Lath-
risk (III.), 204.

— Sir James, Lieutenant in the Scots
Guards, 53.

— James, linen manufacturer, 237.

— James, Major g2d Highlanders,

173-

— James, of New York, 235.

— James, son of George, seventh of
Parbroath, 197.

— James, grandson of Sir George,
eighth Baron of Parbroath, 198.

— James, of Perrymount, 237.

— James, of Pitmedden (I.), 168.

— James, of Pitmedden (II. ), 171.

— James, of Touch (V.), marries
daughter of Sir W. Cranstoun ;
" Raid of Ruthven," 162, 164.

— James, of Touch (VII.), 162,

163.

— James, of Touch (VIII. ), 163.

— fames, of Touch (IX.), 163.

— James, of Touch (XL), 163, 165.

— Sir James Lumsden, of Pitmed-
den, eighth Bart., served in Indian
mutiny and Abyssinian campaign,

173-

— James, son of William Seton,
Rep. of Parbroath, 267, 287, 295 ;
educated in England (picture of),
296 ; in war of 18 12 ; married
Mary Gillon Hoffman, 287 ; 311.

— Jane, daughter of Sir J. Seton of
Barnes (II.), 155.

— Jane, daughter of James, son of
John Lathrisk (III.), 204.

— Jane, daughter of John (II.), 249.

— Janet, daughter of John Seton of
Lathrisk (II.), 204.

— Janet, niece of Captain Patrick
Seton of Lathrisk, 205.

— Janet, daughter of Alexander,
Younger, of Parbroath, 188.

43°

INDEX.

Seton, Janet, daughter of Gilbert,
Younger, 190.

— Jean, daughter of Captain David
Seton, 196.

— Jean, wife of George Seton of
Cariston (VII.), 179.

— Jean, or Jane, daughter of first
Earl of Dunfermline, 132.

— Jean, daughter of John of New-
ark, 235.

— Jessy-Jane, 174, 175.

— Jesuits, 230.

— Jesuits at, 228.

— John, second Lord Seton, mar-
ries Janet Dunbar ; appointed Mas-
ter of the Household by James I.;
sent on mission to France ; taken
prisoner at Homildon Hill ; death ;
buried at Seton Church, 51.

— John, son of Sir A. Seton (3), 43.

— John, son of Alexander, Governor
of Berwick Castle, 279.

— Sir John — " Sir John Assueton,"

47-

— John, Baillie of Tranent, 55.

— John, of Balfour, 206.

— Sir John, of Barnes (I.), 93, 95,
96 ; bred at Court of Spain, pro-
moted to high offices in Scotland,
153 ; marries ; dies, 154.

— Sir John, of Barnes (II.), ac-
quires land in Ireland, 154 ; im-
prisoned by Scotch rebels, 155.

— Sir John, of Barnes (IV.), 155.

— John, founder of the Setons of
Cariston, 71, 176, 177.

— Sir John, son of Seton of Cariston

(I.),-I77.

— Sir John, brother of Sir Christo-
pher (3), executed by English, 34.

— John Curzon (picture), 266.

— Lord John, married to Lady Dun-
bar, 236.

— of the East India Company, 254.

— John, father slain at Flodden, 55.

— Hon. Sir John, of Garleton, at-
tached to the ancient faith ; death,
142 ; 143, 232. _

— John, son of Sir George of Garle-
ton, second Bart., 146, 147.

— Lieut. John, of Graham's Ameri-
can regiment, 234.

— John (son of Henry, U. S. Army),

355-

— Father John (1), 231.

— Father John (2), 231.

Seton, Father John (3), Jesuit, Rector
of Scotch College, Madrid ; re-
ceives George Hay (Bishop) into
the Church, 232.

— John, of Italy, 236.

— John, son of first Viscount Kings-
ton, 140.

— John, son of William (I.) of Kyles-
mure, 158, 159.

— John of Lathrisk (I.), 202, 203.

— John of Lathrisk (II.), 203.

— John of Lathrisk (III.), 203, 204.

— John of Lathrisk (mentioned in
charter of Charles I.), 205.

— John, last Laird of Lathrisk, 206.

— John, nephew of Captain Patrick
Seton of Lathrisk, 205.

— John, son of George, Younger, of
Lathrisk (IV.), 205.

— John, son of third Lord, 55.

— John, son of fourth Lord, 65.

— John, Master of, buried at parish
church of Seton, 55.

— John, son of John, Master of Se-
ton, 55.

— Sir John, Laird of Meldrum, 396.

— John, of Meldrum, arms of, 396.

— John, father of William Seton of
New York, 201.

— John, son of Alex. Seton, Younger,
of Parbroath, 188.

— Sir John, first Baron of Parbroath,
43, 182, 183.

— John, son of Sir Gilbert, third
Baron of Parbroath, 185.

— John, fifth Baron of Parbroath,
died at Flodden, 188.

— John, son of Sir David, seventh
Baron of Parbroath, 196.

— John, Rep. of Parbroath (in busi-
ness in London), 240, 243, 255,
312.

— John, son of William of Par-
broath, 267.

— Mrs. John, wife of John, Rep. of
Parbroath, 255, 257, 258, 260, 262,
264, 274, 277, 295, 312, 313.

— John, of Pitmedden (1639), 396.

— John, of Pitmedden, devoted Roy-
alist, killed at Bridge of Dee, 171.

— Rev. John, D.D., 226, 227.

— John, son of Daniel of Powder-
hall, 207.

— Sir John, of St. Germains, 101,

151.

— John, of St. Germains (II. ), 152.

INDEX.

43 1

Seton, John, sor of Sir John, officer in
Scots Guards, 177.

— John, Town Clerk of Burntisland,

243-

— John, of Touch (VI.), marriage,
death, 162.

— John (emigrated to West Indies),

243-

— John, son of third Earl of Win-
ton, 113.

— Sir John, mentioned by Froissart ;
one of Yorkshire Setons, 46.

— and Kellie, arms of, 152.

— Kirk, 101.

— Lady, wife of Sir Bruce-Maxwell
Seton, 16S.

— Lady, wTife of fifth Lord, benefac-
tions to Seton Church, 67.

"Seton Lake Mission," 238.
Seton of Lathrisk, 202.

— of Lathrisk (1657), 206.

— Laura, 298.

— Lieutenant, killed in a duel, 238.

— Lieutenant (America), 234.

— Lilias, 155.

— Lodge, Tranent, 213, 393.

— Lord (16th century), 216, 229.

— Lord, arms on bell, 61.

— Lord, case against, before James
IV., 185, 186.

— Lucy, 163.

— Maitland & Co., 263, 275.

— Malcolm, son of Bertram, 179.

— Margaret (married to a Hamilton),
150.

— Lady Margaret, heiress of Sir
Alexander (4), abducted by Alan
de Winton, 44 ; marries Alan de
Winton, 45 ; 393.

— Margaret, wife of Andrew of
Barnes, (note) 287 ; (picture) 312 ;

313, 3i6.

— Margaret, sister of George of
Cariston (VIII.), 180.

— Margaret, daughter of Charles
and Matilda Sibbald, 316, 317.

— Margaret, daughter of Sir Chris-
topher, 222.

— Margaret, daughter of James (I.),
240.

— Margaret, daughter of John (II.),

254-

— Margaret, daughter of Sir J. Seton
of Barnes (II.), 155.

— Margaret, daughter of Seton of
Garleton, dies in a convent, 142.

Seton, Margaret, of Mounie (III.),

174-

— Margaret, daughter of John of
Lathrisk (II.), 204.

— Margaret, niece of Capt. Patrick
of Lathrisk, 205.

— Margaret, wife of Sir John Lau-
der, 172.

— Margaret, daughter of Andrew,
sixth Baron of Parbroath, 189.

— Margaret, daughter of Sir David
of Parbroath (seventh), 196.

— Margaret, daughter of seventh
Lord, married to Claude Hamil-
ton, 94, 96.

— Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas
of Olivestob, 150, 178.

— Margaret, daughter of Sir A. Se-
ton of Pitmedden, 98.

— Margaret, married to Sir J.
Scrymgeour, 196.

— Margaret-Annie-Phoebe, 167.

— Marion, of Parbroath, 177.

— Marion, daughter of Gilbert Seton,
Younger, 190.

— Mariota (or Marion), daughter of
fifth Lord, 66.

— Martha, daughter of fourth Lord,

65.

— Mary, daughter of Andrew Seton
of Barnes, 312.

— Mary, one of " Four Maries," 97 ;
became a nun ; her watch ; let-
ter to Countess of Roxburgh, 98 ;
autograph of, 99.

— Mary, daughter of Sir David,
seventh of Parbroath, 196.

— Mary, daughter of Sir George of
Garleton, second Bart., 146, 147.

— Mary, daughter of James (I.), 239.

— Mary, daughter of James, of
New York, 298.

— Mary, daughter of William, Rep.
of Parbroath, 268, 286.

— Mary, daughter of third Earl of
Winton, 113.

— Mary (May) Isabel, 316.

— Matilda, last buried in Seton
Church (1750), 61.

— Miles-Charles, 178.

— in Moir's poem, 62.

— Mother (Elizabeth-Ann Bayley),
276, 277, 325.

— Mother Mary Catharine (note),
326.

— Mrs. (her correspondence), 166.

A32

INDEX.

Seton, Mrs. (Emmittsburg), 301.

— Mrs. John (note), 250, 254, 255,
256.

— motto, 394 ; meaning of, 395.

— of Mounie, branch of Setons of
Pitmedden, Bart., 174.

— name disappeared from Peerage,
122.

— names, 235.

— necklace, 74.

— of Newark, 235.

— Sir Ninian, of Touch (III.), 161,
162.

— palace of, 213, 222.

— papers, 271.

— papers, heirlooms, etc., in Hay
family, 141.

— of Parbroath, 181 ; later arms of
(picture), 400 ; earlier arms of (pic-
ture), 401.

— Sir George, Knight, 391.

— Parish Church of, 55.

— old parish annexed to Tranent
(note), 101.

— Patrick, 204.

— - Captain Patrick, 204.

— Peter, son of Andrew of Barnes,

313. ,

— of Pitmedden, Bart., arms of (pic-
ture), 393.

— portrait group, 91.

— portraits, Yester House, 132.

— Rebecca, daughter of William,
Rep. of Parbroath (IIP), 268, 272,
284, 285, 292, 306, 309, 311.

— Rebecca, daughter of William,
Rep. of Parbroath, 295, 320, 321,
322, 330.

— Richard, son of William, Rep. of
Parbroath, 287, 293, 295, 326, 327,
329, 330, 333, 334, 341.

— Robert, son of Seton of Abercorn,
third Bart., 166.

— Robert, son of Sir David, seventh
Baron of Parbroath, 192, 196.

— Robert (created Earl 1600), 390.

— Robert, son of Sir George, eighth
Baron of Parbroath, 198.

— R.obert, son of fourth Lord, dies
at Milan, 65.

— Robert, son of Seton of Garlento,
142.

— Father Robert, Jesuit, 232.

— Robert (of Parbroath branch), 239.

— Robert, of Windygoul, Bart., 148.

— Robert (first Earl of Winton), 96.

Seton, Robert, son of third Earl of
Winton, 113.

— Robert, D.D., Monsignor, son of
William Seton, Rep. of Parbroath,
picture of, frontispiece, (note), 181 ;
256, 331 ; graduated in Rome,
Private Chamberlain to Pius IX.;
first American made Roman Prel-
ate ; Rector St. Joseph's, N. J.,
D.D. of University of Sapienza,
355 ; Trustee of Seton Hall Col-
lege; author The Dignity of Labor;
Essays, etc., 356.

— Samuel, son of James of Drogh-
eda, 237, 384.

— Samuel, son of William, Rep. of
Parbroath, 263, 268, 298 ; picture
of, 299 ; Superintendent of Public
Schools in New York City, 301.

Seton Seals, 389.
Seton of Seton, 29.

— Alexander, 182.

— Sir Alexander (2) ; knighted by
Bruce ; at Bruce's tent eve of Ban-
nockburn, 35 ; mentioned in poem
by Gordon ; married Isabel, daugh-
ter of Earl of Fife, 41 ; grants of
land from Bruce ; accompanies Ed-
ward Bruce to Ireland, 36 ; at
Parliament of Arbroath, 38 ; killed
at Wrester Kinghorn, 41.

— Sir John, 28.

— John, fourth son of Alexander
Seton of Seton, 182.

— Sir William, first Lord Seton (son
of A. de Winton), 45 ; visited Jeru-
salem ; raid into England ; at bat-
tle of Otterburn, " le seigneur de
Seton"; created a Lord of Parlia-
ment, 46 ; first made Lord of Par-
liament, ancestors sat in Parlia-
ment, 48 ; " Wilhelmus primus
Dns. Seton"; married Catharine,
daughter of Sir W. St. Clair, 49 ;
belonged to Third Order of Saint
Francis ; death ; buried in Fran-
ciscan Church, Haddington ; be-
quests, 51.

Seton shield, 212.

— Sophia, 132.

— Tartan, 235.

— Thomas, in France, killed at Cra-
vant, 53.

— Thomas, hostage at Berwick, 41 ;
put to death by Edward III., 42 ;
181.

INDEX.

433

Seton, Sir Thomas of Olivestob, 101,
149, x5o, 178-

— Thomas, priest, 55.
Seton-thorn, 215.
Seton, tombstone of, 212.
Seton traits, 237.

Seton and Tranent, Baron (Earl of
Eglinton and Winton), 101.

Seton, Sir Walter of Abercorn, first
Bart., 165, 236.

— second Bart., 165.

— Sir Walter, of Touch (IV.), 162.

— William (Life by, in Latin, of
Chancellor Seton), 131.

— William (1850), 369.

— William, son of Alexander, Gov.
of Berwick, 41, 42 ; put to death
by King Edward III., 181.

— William, Book-Plate of (picture),
400.

— William, son of Sir David, sev-
enth of Parbroath, 196.

— William, officer East India Co.,

'73-

— William, first Lord, 390 ; shield

of, 393-

— William, grandson of fourth Lord,

— William, son of Sir Gilbert, third
Baron of Parbroath, 185.

— William, grandson of Sir Gilbert,
third Baron of Parbroath, 185.

— William (son of Henry, U. S.
Army), 355.

— Sir William, of Kylesmure, Kt.,
son of seventh Lord Seton, 94, 96 ;
is Chief Justice, Postmaster ; mar-
riage ; death, 158 ; 159.

— William, of Meldrum, killed at
Brechin, 160, 168.

— William, of Mounie (II.), 174.

— William, of New York, merchant,

234:

— William, of New York (son of
John Seton), 201.

— William, Notarial seal of (1779),
401.

— William (picture), 361.

— William, son of John, Rep. of
Parbroath (II.), 243.

— William, Rep. of Parbroath, 166,
193, 195 ; goes to New York (1763),
255 ; 256, 257, 260, 261 ; Notarial
seal of, 262 ; 264, 265, 267, 268 ;
picture of, 269 ; 272, 277, 278, 279,
286, 287, 294, 302 ; memorandum

of, 306 ; note, 310, 312, 314, 330,

333, 349-
Seton, William, N. Y., Rep. of Par-
broath, 255, 267, 272, 273,274, 275,
277, 278 ; picture of , 279 ; 281, 282,
283, 286, 288, 289, 290, 292, 293,

294, 295, 302, 311, 318, 326, 330,

333-

— William, Rep. of Parbroath, 287,

295, 322, 325, 329 ; student at
Mount St. Mary's, 330 ; 331, 332,
333, 334, 337, 338 ; picture, 339 ;
341, 342, 345, 350.

— Sir William, of Pitmedden, second
Bart., M. P. for Aberdeen, Com-
missioner on Union of Scotland
and England, 172.

— William, of Pitmedden, fourth
Bart., 172.

— William, of Pitmedden, sixth
Bart., 173.

— Sir William-Samuel, of Pitmed-
den, ninth and present (1899) Bart.,

173, 174-

— Sir William-Coote, of Pitmedden,
seventh Bart., 173.

— William, N. Y., 43, 240, 266 ;
one of first students at Ford ham
College ; Lieutenant and Captain
Fourth New York Regiment ;
wounded at battle of Antietam,
359 ; author works of fiction ; con-
tributor to CatJiolic Worlds 360.

— William, officer of revenue, Kirk-
caldv, 234.

— Rev. William, 3S4.

— William, of Rumgavie, 185.

— William, tenant in Seton, 212.

— William, son of William Seton of
N. Y., 360.

— William, son of William Seton,
350.

— William, son of third Earl of
Winton, 113.

— William-Carden, grandson of
Christopher of Cariston (V.), 178.

— William Dalrymple, 314.

— William Henderson, 3S4.

— William (picture), 353.

Seton and Winton lands possessed

by the Setons, 38, 210.
Seton or Winton, House of, noblest

in Scotland, 122.
Seton Winton and Tranent, value of

estate (note), 210.
Seton- Karr of Kippilaw, 207.

434

INDEX.

Seton, Henry, of Kippilaw, M.P.,
208.

— Heywood Walter, great traveller,
208.

— Walter Scott, 208.
Seton-Steuart, Sir Alan Henry, Bart.,

121, 388.

— Sir Alan-Henry, of Allanton and
Touch, Bart., 163.

Seton-Steuarts, Baronets, go.

Setons, American, 386.

Setons, in Catalogue of the Heraldic

Exhibition, 388.
Setons of Cariston, 30.
Setons of Clatto, 206 ; ruin of,

207.
Seton's Close, 82.
Setons, noted for culture, refinement,

etc., 73.

— with Douglasses and Lauders, ob-
tain Bull from Pope Leo X., 67.

— escutcheon of, 222.

— of Fawside, Fauside, or Falside,
219.

— Heraldry of, 197.

— in Ireland, 237.

— in Italy, 236, 237.

— Viscounts Kingston, 106.
Seton's Land, 82.

Setons of Lathrisk and Balbirnie, 202.

— a Lowland family, 235.

— Mansion-house of, 57.

— of New York, 239, 316.

— of Parbroath, 17, 192, 195 ; arms
of, 400 ; (in New York), heirloom
of, 193 ; 401.

— late of Parbroath, now of New
York, 401.

— first of, Picot, 5.

— of Pitmedden, arms of, 396.

— of Preston and Ekolsund, 236.

— in Prison for the '45, 234.

— of Rutland, 226.

— Scotch, 22.

— of Scotland, 17, 3S7.

— in Scots Guards, 54.

— one of oldest Scottish families,
107.

— proposal to derive them from the
Sitones (note), J 12.

— only representatives of one branch
of the Royal Stuarts, 54.

— in Sweden, 236.

— confined in Tolbooth, 234.

— town house in Edinburgh, 82.
Setoun, lands of, 387.

Seye, 10.

Seyer, 22, son of Robert de Quincy,

210.
Sey-ton, or Seton, Lords, Earls of

Winton, 20.
Seyton, 225.
" Seyton, an officer attending on

Macbeth," 222, (picture), 223.
Seyton, presentation of a church of

(1296), 56.
Seytune, lands, 24.
Sharpe, Archbishop, 17S.

— Charles K., x., (note) 97 ; 106.
Shaw, J. C, 349.

Shirley, Evelyn Philip (note), 265.
Shrewsbury, Earl of (Roger de Mont-

gomerie), 102.
Sibbald, Caroline, 316.

— George, 315.

— Matilda, 315, 316.

— Sir Robert, 26, 198, 203.
Sibbalds of Balgonie, 315.
Sidmouth, Mary Ursula, 178.
— , second Viscount, 179.
Sigebert de Biars, 7.
Simond, Louis, 310.

Sims, Origin and Signification of

Scottish Surnames, 50.
Sinclair, 19.

— Alexander, 27.

— Dame Catherine, 144.

— Henry, third Lord, 197.

— Janet, Heiress of Northrig, 65.

— Jean, 197.

— Prof., presents rare work to Lord
Winton, 115.

— of Rosslyn, 48.

Sisters of Charity in United States,
276 ; first house of in U. S., 294,

_322.

Sitgreaves, Julia (Mrs. Julia Scott),

281.
Sitoni di Scotia, 236.
Sitoun, David (1587), 216.
Skating Pond at Cragdon (picture),

373-
Skene (note), 184 ; Castle of, 196 ;
meaning of name, 197.

— Sir John, 128.

— of Potterton, David, 196.

— of Rubislaw, 196.
Slane, Barons (note), 316.
Slogan, meaning of, 394, 402.
Snuff-box of John Seton, 201.
Snuff-box given to Sir G. Seton of

Parbroath (picture), 387.

INDEX.

435

Society of Jesus, 127, 12S, 22S, 233,

at Madrid, 232.
Somerset, Protector, 217.
Somerville family, go.

— Lord, 90.

— Lord (Hugh), 71.
Sorn Castle, manor of, 72.
Spelman, Sir Henry, 124.
Spens, James, of Lathallan, 203.

" Spens, Sir Patrick " (old ballad),
203, 205.

Spens, William, of Lathallan, 203.

Squint, Seton Church, only one in
Scotland with a, 6r.

Stafford, Lady, Countess of Suther-
land, descended from Setons and
Gordons, 61.

Stanhopes, 14.

Stanwick, 253.

Startin, Mrs., 294.

Stephen, King, 17.

Stevenson, Rev. Joseph, S. J., 56,
(note) 87.

Stewart, 19.

— Ann, 163.

— Charles, 105.

— Francis, 105.

— John (note), 142.

— line, first Earl of, 105.

— Lady Margaret, married to third
Lord Seton, 54, 390.

— Margaret, 105.

— Margaret, wife of Sir John Home,
(note) 142.

— Margaret, daughter of Sir John
Stewart (Earl of Athole, 1457),
187.

— Mary, 195.

— Sir John (Earl of Athole, 1457),
187.

— Robert, Earl of Orkney, 195.

— Sir Thomas, of Grandtully, 163.
Stewarts, 26.

Stirling, Sir Archibald of Garden

and Keir, 163.
Stirling Castle, 204.
Stirling, Elizabeth, 163.

— of Glorat, 15S.

Stob Cross, meaning of, 149.

Stoke-Say, 15.

Stone roof, Church of Seton, one of
only two remaining, 57.

Straloch, estate of the Cheynes, 42.

Stratfield-.SVnr, 16.

Strathaven, Laird of (Alexander Gor-
don), 397.

Strathearn, Seneschal of, Malise,

187.
Strickland, Miss (quoted), S4.
Struthers, Rev. Dr., ix., 114.
Stuart, 62.

— Alan, of Darney, 53.

— Elizabeth, daughter second Earl
of Traquair, 113

— Gilbert, artist, 26S, 302.

— house of, (note) 211 ; 279.

— James, 116.

— Lord James, created Earl of
Moray, S3.

— John, second Earl of Traquair,

113-

— Lady Louisa, 113.

— Queen Mary, (note) 66 ; 68, 70, 71,
73 ; marriage of ; portrait of, sent
to Queen Elizabeth, 73 ; 74 ; fre-
quent visitor to Seton, 74 ; at Se-
ton (picture), 75 ; 76, S3, 84, 87,
88, 93, 94, 97, 9S, 122, 123, 124,
143, 168 ; miniature of, 192 ; 193
(note), 195.^

— Robert, Earl of Menteith and
Duke of Albany, 41.

— Royal house of, 225.

Stuarts of Traquair remained Cath-
olic, 113.
Style, Isabella, 244.

— Sir Thomas, Bart., 244.
Supporters of Winton Arms, 395.
Surnames, origin of, 3.
Sutherland, Earl of, 105.

— Earls of, 397.

— Countess of, 61.

Suttie, Anne, daughter of Sir George
Suttie of Balgone, 156.

— Sir George of Balgone, 156 ; of
Adiston, created Baronet of Nova
Scotia, (note) 156.

Swan, 215.

— or Sweyn, of Tranent, 209.

— son of, 211.

Swan's engraving, Seton Church, 61.
Sweden, Setons in, 236.
Swinton, Isabel, 205.

— Mark, 205.

— of Swinton, Sir John, 218.

— of Swinton, Margaret, 218.
Sword of Sir C. Seton (3), 29.
Sybilla Avenel, 9.

Synnot, Colonel David, 249.

— Lady, 241, 256, (note) 258 ; 273,
290.

— Maria, 259 (picture), 261.

A36

INDEX.

Synnot, Mark Seton, ix., (picture)
247 ; 250, (note) 258.

— Sir Walter, Kt., 249, 258, 273, 290.
Synnots, 257.

Syward, Earl of Northumberland, 23.

Talleyrand visits the Setons, 263.

Tantallon Castle, besieged by Crom-
well, 139.

Tartan, Seton, 235.

"Tears for the Death of Alexander,
Earl of Dunfermline, Lord Chan-
cellor of Scotland" (poem), 131.

Temple, Augusta Grenville, 350.

— Sir John, Bart., xii., 350.
Terregles House, 234.
Teynham, Lord, 266.

The Chisholm, 162.

" The Queen's Marie," ballad of,

(note) 97.
Thirlstane, John, Lord, 107, 132.
Thompson, Sir Thomas of Dudding-

ton, 196.
Thor, or Thorald, son of Swan, 209,

211, 215, 217.
Tolygart, lands of, 218.
Tombstones, Tranent churchyard,

212.
Ton, meaning of in names, 21.
Topcliff, Lord, 27.
Torphichen, Lord, 228.
Touch, armorial pedigree of, 90.

— Barony of, 163.

— House, 161.

— Seton of, 161.

Touch and Tullibody, Setons of, 396.

Tranent, 21 ; granted to Sir A. Seton
(2), secondary title of, 36 ; acquired
by Robert de Quincy, 37 ; estate,
38 ; parish of, 101, 148, 220 ; Par-
ish Kirk, 61, 152 ; Parish Church,
101, 2ir, 220; Kirk Assembly,
138 ; town, 209 ; Barony of, 209,
210, 211, 218 ; mines of, 210; ex-
cavation of coal in, 211 ; church-
yard of, 212, 213, 214 ; Bailie Se-
ton's tomb in churchyard of (pic-
ture), 213 ; Mission of, witchcraft
in, 214 ; old buildings of, old
church, and David Seton's Dookit
(picture) ; tower, 215 ; village of,
216 ; manor of, 221, 393.

— Lord of, Roger de Quincy, 38.
Traquair House, 113.

Traquair, Second Earl of, title be-
came extinct 1861, 113.

Tullibardine, 187.
Tullibody, 161.
Turnbull, Anna, 152.

— Katherine, 212.

Turner, Alfred of Daysbrook, 176.
Tutor, as title of honor, (note) 155.
Tweeddale, first Earl of, 132.

— Marquess of, 27, 112 ; (present)
132.

Twining, Thomas (quoted), 266.
Tytler, Patrick Frazer (quoted), 107.

Umfrevilles, 8.
Urban III., Pope, Bull of, 8.
Urinie, Lord of, 13.
Urquhart, Lord, 127.

— John, of Craigfintry, 160.

— Patrick, of Meldrum, 160.

— of Meldrum and Byth, 397.
Urquharts of Meldrum, 160.

— lands of, Easter, Middle, and
Loppie, 197.

Usborne, Captain George, 306.

— George, 306.

Vallandigham, Edward N., 372.
Van Rensselaer, Lilian, 234.

— General, 297.
Vane, Sir Henry, 138.
Varela, Rev. Father, 345.
Verneuil, battle of, 52.
Vernons, 8.

Viars, Le Sieur Avenel de, 7.

Victoria, Queen, 121 ; autograph let-
ter to Sir Henry J. Seton, 167,
176.

Vieux-Pont, William, 183.

Vine, Lord Sandys of, 346.

Vining, Anna-Maria, 310.

— Benjamin, 267.

— Hon. John Middleton, 267.

— Mrs., 282, 285, 287.

— William-Henry, 267.
Vipont, Mary, 183.

— Norman name, derivation of, 183.

— Roland, 184.

Virginia, Prot. Bishop of, (note) 291.

Vitrie, Lord of, 13.

Von Kettler, Prussian officer, 298.

Wace, Master Robert, 13.
Waddington, Joshua, 298.
Waldeve, or Waltheof, fifth Earl of

Dunbar and March, 23.
Wallace, 108, 195.

INDEX.

431

Wallace's tower, Seton House, 108.
Walleran, Chaplain of Church of

Tranent, 211.
Walpole, Horace, 250, 254.
Walrond, George, (note) 276.

— Grace, (note) 276.

Waltheof , or Waldeve, Abbot of Mel-
rose, 23.
War Cry or Slogan, meaning of,

394-
Washington, George, 267, 283, 346.
Watch of Mary Seton, 98, 99.
Wauchope, Andrew, Laird of Nid-

drie-Wauchope, 146.

— Barbara, wife of Sir G. Seton of
Garleton, 146.

— Gilbert, (note) 146.

— Robert, (note) 146.

— Robert (son of Gilbert), Arch-
bishop of Armagh, at Council of
Trent, (note) 146.

Wauchopes of Niddrie, (note) 146.
Waterperry, Curzon of, 266.

— Curzons of, 264, 279.

— estate of, 266.

Wedderburn, Sir Alexander, of Black-
ness, Bart., 172.
Weld, Emily Mary, 157.

— Joseph, of Lymington, 157.
Wellington, Duke of, 16.
Wemyss, Barbara, daughter of

Wemyss of Bogie, 166.

— Earl of, 94.

— Earls of (Charteris-Douglas), 81.

— Sir John, of Bogie, Bart., 166.

— Lord, 61.

Wemyss and March, Earl of, 58 ;

present owner of Seton House, 76.
West Point Military Academy, 267.
WTester Lathrisk, lands of, 203.
Wexford, siege of, 249.
Wharncliffe, Earl of, 249.
Wharton, Frances, 314.
White, Rev. Dr., 295.
Whitefoord Blouse, 82.
Whittle, aunt of Wm. Seton, New

York, 274.
Wickham, William of, 18.
Wigton, Earl of, (note) 316.

— sixth Earl of, 132.

— seventh Earl of, 132.

Wilder, Charles Rollin, Cincinnati,

384-

— Lelia Seton, 384.

Wilkes, Charles, 260, 261, 313, 334,
337-

Wilkes, Israel, 310.

— Mrs. Israel, 310.

— John, 260, 278, 313.

William (the Conqueror), followers

of, 3, 12.
-III., 171.

— the Lion, 24, 37, 195, 209, 217.
Williams, Roger, of Rhode Island,

3S4.
Winchester, Earl of, 25, 210, 393.

— sets out for Crusade, 37.
Windygoul, estate of, origin of name,

tower of, 148.
Winton Arms, 390, 395.
Winton, derivation of name, (note)

393-

— Earl of, snuff-box to Sir George
Seton, 387, 391.

— Earl of (United Kingdom peer-
age), 121.

— first Earl of, 93, 95, 100, 149, 151.

— Earl of, Seton House, 45.

— Earls of, 26, 75, 193, 195, 203,
210, 279.

— Elizabeth Maxwell, Countess of,

234-

— George, third Earl of, 101, builds
Winton House, 108 ; loyalty to
King, attachment to faith, death,
in ; 112, 137, 142, 143, 148, 229,
232, 234.

— George, fourth Earl of, 76; heavily
fined, educated a Protestant, fam-
ily severed from Catholic Church,
at siege of Besant^on, commanded
regiment at Bothwell Bridge, 114 ;
with Duke of York on frigate
Gloucester, appointed Grand Mas-
ter of Household ; in Holland,
115 ; marriage, death, 116.

— George, fifth and last Earl of,
fond of travel and study ; in the
rising of 1715, 116 ; prisoner in
the Tower, condemned to death,
117 ; escapes from Tower, makes
his way to Rome, dies, 118; pic-
ture of, 119 ; 121, 175.

— House, 56, 73, S3 ; picture of,
109 ; 229.

— peerage, claimants to, 121.

— Robert (son of seventh Lord Se-
ton), first Earl of, 93, 95, 96, 100,
101 ; married, 102 ; picture of,
with wife and daughter, 103 ; 106 ;
death, his will, 106 ; singular oc-
currence at funeral, 107.

438

INDEX.

Winton, Robert, second Earl of, 101 ;
married, 107 ; resigns his title,
death, 108.
Wintoun (Francisque Michel), 45.

Wise, , wife of John Seton,

267.

Witchcraft in Tranent, 214.

Wolf's Cave at Cragdon, 366 ; (pic-
ture) 379.

Wood, Eva-Kate St. Leger, 174.

— Lieut. -Gen. II. Hastings- Affleck,
C. B., 174.

Worsley, Anne, 289.

— Rev. George, 244.

— Sir William, Bart., 244.
Wrychtshouses, near Edinburgh, ear-
liest notice of, 45.

Wydale House, 244.
Wyntoun, Andrew, Orygynale Cron-
ykil of Scotland, 44.

Wyvern, 392.

Wyverns, the Seton crest, 398.

Yair or Zair, 207.

Yelverton, Sir Henry, M. P., 127, 225.

Yester, 125.

— John, Lord, 71.

— third Lord, 176.

— Lord Hugh de Gifford, 27.

— eighth Lord, first Earl of Tweed-
dale, 132.

— House, Haddington, 132.
York, Duke of, 115.

York Building Co. purchases Seton
House, 81.

Zair, or Yair, Kerr of, 207.
Zetland, Marquess of, 240.
Zouche of Haryngworth, Barony of,
265.

Press of J. J. Little & Co.
Astor Place, New York

adherents of the royal house of Stewart,
and they continued Catholics, or crypto-
Catholics, until Greorge, the fourth Earl of
Winton, succeeding his father in 1650 as a
boy of ten, was brought up "in the true
Protestant religion." Of the lords and the
earls, and of their many offshoots — the
Earls of Dunfermline, the 2- Viscounts
Kingston, and the Setons of Barnes, Touch,
Abercorn, &c. — Monsignor Seton gives a
full and interesting account ; sometimes,
however, he misses a picturesque episode
which, even if not strictly historic, was yet
deserving of record. Thus the fifth Lord
Seton — Queen Mary's lord — is always said
to have had to turn waggoner in Flanders.
Monsignor Seton says merely that he "lived
two years in great poverty and distress in
Flanders and Holland." He might have
told more of Queen Mary's visits to Seton
Palace. According to Mr. Hay Fleming's
' Itinerary' ('Mary, Queen of Scots,' pp. 515-
543), she paid six visits between January 4th,
1562, and April 7th, 1567. She cannot
possibly have written Latin verses with
a diamond ring on a window of
the great hall "in January, 1561," for
she was not then yet back in Scotland ;
and there is no authority for her resting
"for several days" at Lord Seton's castle
of Niddry on her flight from Lochleven.
The account of the fifth and last Jacobite
Earl of Winton is meagre and misleading.
Monsignor Seton has neglected to refer to
the Rev. Robert Patten's 'History of the
Late Rebellion,' to vol. xv. of Howell's
1 State Trials,' and to the ' Diary ' of Lady
Cowper, not to mention other sources. The
young lord, he says, "was abroad on his
travels when his parents died," presumably
on the grand tour. Yes ; but Patten records
how the earl, on the march to Preston, " told
many pleasant Stories of his Travels, and his
living unknown and obscurely with a Black-
smith in France, whom he served some Years
as a Bellows - blower." That travelling
blacksmith was almost certainly a member
of a band of Caldarari, Hungarian gipsy
coppersmiths, such as one knows by

Jacques Callot's marvellous drawings. A

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qoun^g

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1 History of the Family of Seton during
Eight Centuries.' by the late George Seton,
advocate, M A.Oxon., &c. (2 vols., Edin-
burgh, 1896), which Monsignor Seton
characterizes thus most happily : —

" It has been a labour of love and of profound
research ; but as one who is honourably
mentioned therein, I will say (without malice)
that it contains some things that are important,
many things that are useful, and everything
that is superfluous."

It would be wrong to overlook entirely
Monsignor Seton' s ninety-one illustrations.
The frontispiece is a striking portrait of
himself, and the others are chiefly portraits
of dead Setons, views of places connected
with them, and representations of their
armorial bearings — " No one of our line has
ever married unless into an armigerous
family/' Falside Castle in the picture looks
far less grim than it always looks to us;
but what views may be got from that old
ruin, north, west, and south, with the
summer sun setting beyond the Pentland
Hills! The picture, on p. 75, of 'Queen
Mary at Seton ' was drawn many years ago
for a Scottish work by a well-known living
artist, whose permission for reproduction
has not been asked by Monsignor Seton. Is
piracy, then, deemed in America less heinous
than marrying into non- armigerous families ?

An Old Family: or, The Setons of Scotland
and America. By Monsignor Seton, mem-
ber of the New York Historical Society.
New York: Brentano's. 1899. 8vo, pp. 438.

This book, compiled by the Rev. Robert
Seton of Jersey City, does indeed record the
history of an "old family." The Setons are
one of the famous families of Scotland, with
a pedigree reaching back to traditionary
times, for Scottish records are sadly de-
fective, but accepted by genealogists. Sir
Richard Maitland of Lethington, Knt., who
wrote the 'History of the House of Sey-
toun' to the year 1559, traces several gene-
rations of knights of the name prior to
Christell or Christopher, who was a staunch
supporter of King Robert Bruce, and who
married Christian, the sister of that mon-
arch. He was captured by the English, and
hanged, drawn, and quartered as a rebel.
His son, Alexander Seyton, received from
his uncle, King Robert, a charter erecting
his lands into a free barony. His descend-
ant George, sixth Lord Seton, was in 1557
Governor of Edinburgh Castle, whose son
Robert, seventh Lord, was by King James
VI. made Earl of Winton, November 10,
1600. The grand title of Lord Seton was
merged in the title of Winton, and five Se-
tons bore it. George, the fifth Earl Winton,
was about thirty-six years old when the
"rising" of 1715 took place, and of course
he Joined the Pretender. He took arms, and
at Preston surrendered, with some fifteen
hundred others, noblemen and commoners,
and was sent to London. On January 10,
1716, five noblemen, the Earls of Nithsdale,
Winton, and Cornwall, Viscount Kenmore
and Lord Nairn, were impeached, tried, and
condemned. Winton escaped from prison,
and seems to have gone to Rome, where he
is said to have died December 19, 1749, un-
married, though a claimant to his honors
appeared early in this century.
- Thus expired the honors of the name of
Seton, which very curiously obtained pub-
lic recognition by a random stanza about
Mary Seton, daughter of George, the sixth
Lord Seyton, one of Queen Mary's "four
Maries," and by the matchless eloquence of
Sir Walter Scott in his novel of 'The Abbot.'
But the male line did not then cease. Rob-
ert, eighth Lord Seton, and first Earl of
Winton, besides his heir, the second Earl,
had a son Alexander Seton, by his wife
Margaret, daughter of Hugh Montgomery,
third Earl of Eglington. The male line of
the Montgomerys died out in 1612, and the
titles and estates devolved by entail, in right
of his mother, on Alexander Seton, who took
the name and arms of Earl of Eglington.
This line of Setons in the male line still ex-
1 ists, the Scotch title having been augment-
ed by the title of Earl of Winton in the
j United Kingdom in 1859, now held by George
J Arnulph Montgomerie, since 1892, fifteenth
I Earl.

Other examples can be found of offshoots
of this famous race still surviving under
Other names, &g inheriting other honors, but

we are not writing a Scotch chronicle. The
reader is respectfully referred to a 'History
of the Family of Seton during Eight Cen-
turies,' by George Seton, Advocate, M.A.
Oxon., Edinburgh, privately "printed by T. &
A. Constable, Printers to her Majesty (1896,
pp. 1,079, 8vo, 2 vols.), one of those stupen-
dous genealogies possible only where wealth
is at the service of taste and knowledge.
In these magnificent volumes the record of
the entire family is to be found, and it is
one to rejoice the heart of every orie with a
drop of Seton blood in his veins. The book
under notice is, of course, but a mere sub-
section of the great book, interesting only
so far as it may give the American branch
of the family. We regret to say that it has
not been executed with the exactness or
fulness that might be desired.

The author claims that his ancestor rep-
resents the oldest cadet line from the main
branch, viz., that of Seton of Parbroath,
which was established about the middle of
the fourteenth century. The record seems
to be reasonably clear until about a. d.
1600, when George Seton was in possession
of Parbroath. Our author (p. 197) writes,
that about a. d. 1607 George seems to have
quitted Parbroath and to be occupying pre-
mises in the rectory of Dysart in Fifeshire.
He was twice married, first to

"Jean, daughter of Henry, Lord Sinclair, by
whom he had issue, but nothing special is
known of the children, who were living with
their mother at Dysart in 1609. They must
have died young. His second wife was Isa-
bella, daughter of George Seton of Cariston,
great-grandson of the sixth Lord Seton, by
whom he had two sons, James, who died in
Spain unmarried, and Robert, who is last
heard of near Hawick in Roxburghshire,
where he married the daughter of a gentle-
~man of the neighborhood, name unknown,
and had a son called James, of whom here-
after."

Here our reverend author interposes other
matter, and, on p. 239, resumes with

"James Seton, Esq. He succeeded his
father Robert in the representation of the
Parbroath branch of the family, and settled
in London, where he married Margaret New-
ton. . . . He had one son and two
daughters [John, Mary, married Dr. Wil-
liam Robertson, Margaret, married a Dun-
das]."

James Seton, the father of the last named,
"was murdered in a rising of the slaves
at Cape Francais, San Domingo, while on a
voyage to the West Indies with the inten-
tion of settling there and sending for his
family."

John Seton, born in 1712, married his cou-
sin Elizabeth Seton of Belsies, and had two
sons and five daughters, viz., John, died un-
married at Barbados, 1768; William; Isa-
bella, wife of Sir Thomas Cayley, Bart.;
Jane, married Sir Walter Synnott, Knt.;

Elizabetn, wire 01 Kobert Berry and mother
of Walpole's famous friends Agnes and Mary-
Berry; Margaret, married Andrew Seton of
New York; Mary, wife of John Wilkes of
New York; and Barbara, who married
George Seton, an officer in the East India
Company's service.

William Seton, son of John, was born in
London, April 24, 1746, and in 1763, at the
age of seventeen, emigrated to New York
to push his fortune. He married there
successively two sisters, daughters of Rich-
ard Curzon of New York, was a notary and
a merchant, and died June 9, 1798, at New
York. By his first wife he had four sons
and three daughters, and by his second
wife two sons and five daughters, nearly
all of his large family living to be married.

The oldest son, William, jr., was born at
sea in 1768, was a merchant in New York,
and married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr.
Richard Bayley of New York. After his
death she became a Catholic, and her old-
est son, William Seton, born in 1796, was
the father of Monsignor Robert Seton, au-
thor of the book under review, born at
Pisa, in 1839. He was ordained priest in
1865, and in 1867 named prothonotary apos-
tolic, and was the first American raised to
the Roman prelature.

It is not necessary to trace the later
members of the family, all well known and
valued, but we must say that the pedigree,
as we have indicated, must be defective
and needs strengthening. It is almost im-
possible to doubt the substantial truth of
a pedigree fortified by so many references
to marriages and other proofs, but the
reverend author has certainly been very re-
miss in collecting proofs which ought to
be still obtainable. The finer the pedigree,
the more essential is the proof. We must
say that no judicious editor would rest sat-
isfied with Sir Bernard Burke's perfunctory
endorsement herein printed.

The history of the American branch of the
Setons is very interesting, and is quite fully
set forth. It will be noted that one en-
tire line reverted to the Catholic faith.

"■^g^s*

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